Exam question 1 · Congress and Parliament: how a law is made

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the legislative procedure of the United States?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: United States · What happens: follow, characteris, proceed · To what, where: legislative procedure

This is exam question 1 of lesson 6 «Congress and Parliament: how a law is made» 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	11 procedure	det
10	legislative	legislative	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 procedure	amod
11	procedure	procedure	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	15 States	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 States	det
14	United	United	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 States	amod
15	States	State	PROPN	Number=Plur	11 procedure	nmod
16	?	?	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 legislative procedure of the United States	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	proceed		the United States			nom procedure «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 · ← Mova's choice

A bill becomes law upon its signature by the President irrespective of Congress

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 bill	det
2	bill	bill	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 becomes	nsubj
3	becomes	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	law	law	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 becomes	xcomp
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 signature	case
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 signature	nmod:poss
7	signature	signature	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 becomes	obl
8	by	by	ADP	_	10 President	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 President	det
10	President	President	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 signature	nmod
11	irrespective	irrespective	ADV	_	13 Congress	advmod
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 Congress	case
13	Congress	Congress	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 becomes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	become	present	a bill	law				upon bill's signature by the President; of Congress	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient
2	sign		the President	bill					nom signature «communication transitive»: poss=patient by=agent

Option 2

A bill becomes law upon its approval by the House of Representatives alone

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 bill	det
2	bill	bill	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 becomes	nsubj
3	becomes	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	law	law	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 becomes	xcomp
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 approval	case
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 approval	nmod:poss
7	approval	approval	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 becomes	obl
8	by	by	ADP	_	10 House	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 House	det
10	House	House	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 approval	nmod
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 Representatives	case
12	Representatives	Representative	PROPN	Number=Plur	10 House	nmod
13	alone	alone	ADV	_	3 becomes	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	become	present	a bill	law				upon bill's approval by the House of Representatives; alone property	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient
2	approve		the House of Representatives	bill					nom approval «act transitive»: poss=patient by=agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

A bill must be approved by both the House of Representatives and the Senate prior to presentation to the President

The tree, 20 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 bill	det
2	bill	bill	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 approved	nsubj:pass
3	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 approved	aux
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 approved	aux:pass
5	approved	approve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	by	by	ADP	_	9 House	case
7	both	both	CCONJ	_	9 House	cc:preconj
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 House	det
9	House	House	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 approved	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 Representatives	case
11	Representatives	Representative	PROPN	Number=Plur	9 House	nmod
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	17 presentation	cc
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 presentation	det
14	Senate	Senate	PROPN	Number=Sing	17 presentation	compound
15	prior	prior	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	17 presentation	case
16	to	to	ADP	_	15 prior	fixed
17	presentation	presentation	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 Representatives	conj
18	to	to	ADP	_	20 President	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 President	det
20	President	President	PROPN	Number=Sing	17 presentation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	approve	must · passive	the House of Representatives and the Senate presentation to the President	a bill					vn allow-64.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Beneficiary

Option 4

A bill is enacted solely by decision of the Supreme Court

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 bill	det
2	bill	bill	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 enacted	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 enacted	aux:pass
4	enacted	enact	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	solely	solely	ADV	_	4 enacted	advmod
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 decision	case
7	decision	decision	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 enacted	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	11 Court	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 Court	det
10	Supreme	Supreme	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 Court	amod
11	Court	Court	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 decision	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	enact	present · passive	decision of the Supreme Court	a bill				solely property	vn performance-26.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme
2	decide			the Supreme Court					nom decision «act transitive»: of=patient

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.

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