Exam question 2 · Debates and rows on chat shows

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the determination of a "winner" of a televised debate?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: winner · What happens: follow, characteris, televise, determine · To what, where: determination

This is exam question 2 of lesson 11 «Debates and rows on chat shows» of the politics course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: the test at school.

The question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 determination	det
10	determination	determination	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 winner	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 winner	det
13	"	"	PUNCT	_	14 winner	punct
14	winner	winner	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 determination	nmod
15	"	"	PUNCT	_	14 winner	punct
16	of	of	ADP	_	19 debate	case
17	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	19 debate	det
18	televised	televise	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	19 debate	amod
19	debate	debate	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 winner	nmod
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the determination of a winner of a televised debate	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	televise	participle				vn transcribe-25.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	determine		a winner of a televised debate			nom determination «act intransitive»: of=agent

One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

The options

Option 1

The winner is the candidate who receives the loudest applause

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 winner	det
2	winner	winner	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 candidate	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 candidate	cop
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 candidate	det
5	candidate	candidate	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 receives	nsubj
7	receives	receive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 candidate	acl:relcl
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 applause	det
9	loudest	loud	ADJ	Degree=Sup	10 applause	amod
10	applause	applause	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 receives	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	the winner	the candidate					tree rules
2	receive	present	the candidate	the loudest applause					vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent applause=Theme

Option 2

The winner is declared by the candidate who was absent

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 winner	det
2	winner	winner	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 declared	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 declared	aux:pass
4	declared	declare	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 candidate	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 candidate	det
7	candidate	candidate	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 declared	obl
8	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 absent	nsubj
9	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 absent	cop
10	absent	absent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 candidate	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	declare speech: other	present · passive	the candidate	the winner					vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Attribute
2	is	past	the candidate					absent property	tree rules

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

No official score exists, and assessments are largely influenced by the prior preferences of viewers

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	DET	PronType=Neg	3 score	det
2	official	official	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 score	amod
3	score	score	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 exists	nsubj
4	exists	exist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 influenced	punct
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 influenced	cc
7	assessments	assessment	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 influenced	nsubj:pass
8	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 influenced	aux:pass
9	largely	largely	ADV	_	10 influenced	advmod
10	influenced	influence	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 exists	conj
11	by	by	ADP	_	14 preferences	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 preferences	det
13	prior	prior	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 preferences	amod
14	preferences	preference	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 influenced	obl
15	of	of	ADP	_	16 viewers	case
16	viewers	viewer	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 preferences	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	exist	present	no official score			vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	influence	present · passive	the prior preferences of viewers	assessments	largely property	vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient
3	prefer			viewers		nom preference «feeling transitive»: of=patient

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

The winner is determined by an independent referee in accordance with fixed rules agreed beforehand by all parties

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 winner	det
2	winner	winner	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 determined	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 determined	aux:pass
4	determined	determine	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	8 referee	case
6	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 referee	det
7	independent	independent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 referee	amod
8	referee	referee	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 determined	obl
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 accordance	case
10	accordance	accordance	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 referee	nmod
11	with	with	ADP	_	13 rules	case
12	fixed	fix	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 rules	amod
13	rules	rule	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 determined	obl
14	agreed	agree	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 rules	acl
15	beforehand	beforehand	ADV	_	14 agreed	advmod
16	by	by	ADP	_	18 parties	case
17	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	18 parties	det
18	parties	party	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 agreed	obl:agent

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	determine	present · passive	a independent referee in accordance	the winner	with fixed rules	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Topic
2	fix	participle				vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
3	agree speech: agree	participle		fixed rules not said here	beforehand property	vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Text: the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (world/data/school/), as the course runner gave them to the student. Trees: Mova's own parse — the en model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/politics/11-debates-and-rows-on-chat-shows/e2/