Exam question 4 · Taxes and local councils: bins, roads and schools

It is given that schools in many parts of the United States are funded in part from local property taxation. Determine the probable consequence.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: give, fund, determine · To what, where: It, schools, part, probable consequence

This is exam question 4 of lesson 8 «Taxes and local councils: bins, roads and schools» 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

Sentence 1: It is given that schools in many parts of the United States are funded in part from local property taxation.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 given	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 given	aux:pass
3	given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	that	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	5 schools	det
5	schools	school	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 funded	nsubj:pass
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 parts	case
7	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 parts	amod
8	parts	part	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 schools	nmod
9	of	of	ADP	_	12 States	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 States	det
11	United	United	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 States	amod
12	States	State	PROPN	Number=Plur	8 parts	nmod
13	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 funded	aux:pass
14	funded	fund	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 given	parataxis
15	in	in	ADP	_	16 part	case
16	part	part	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 funded	obl
17	from	from	ADP	_	20 taxation	case
18	local	local	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 taxation	amod
19	property	property	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 taxation	compound
20	taxation	taxation	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 part	nmod
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 given	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	present · passive		It					vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	fund	present · passive		that schools in many parts of the United States		part from local property taxation			tree rules

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.

Sentence 2: Determine the probable consequence.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Determine	determine	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 consequence	det
3	probable	probable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 consequence	amod
4	consequence	consequence	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Determine	obj
5	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Determine	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	determine	imperative	you not said here	the probable consequence					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent consequence=Topic

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

Schools in poorer areas invariably receive the greater sums, since property there costs less

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Schools	school	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 receive	nsubj
2	in	in	ADP	_	4 areas	case
3	poorer	poor	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	4 areas	amod
4	areas	area	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Schools	nmod
5	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	6 receive	advmod
6	receive	receive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 sums	det
8	greater	great	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	9 sums	amod
9	sums	sum	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 receive	obj
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 costs	punct
11	since	since	SCONJ	_	14 costs	mark
12	property	property	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 costs	nsubj
13	there	there	ADV	PronType=Dem	12 property	advmod
14	costs	cost	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 receive	conj
15	less	less	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	14 costs	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	receive	present	Schools in poorer areas	the greater sums				invariably property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sum=Theme
2	cost	present	property	less					vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme less=Value

Option 2

All schools in the United States receive precisely identical sums of money, whatever the area

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	All	all	DET	PronType=Tot	2 schools	det
2	schools	school	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 receive	nsubj
3	in	in	ADP	_	6 States	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 States	det
5	United	United	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 States	amod
6	States	State	PROPN	Number=Plur	2 schools	nmod
7	receive	receive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	precisely	precisely	ADV	_	9 identical	advmod
9	identical	identical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 sums	amod
10	sums	sum	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 receive	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 money	case
12	money	money	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 sums	nmod
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 whatever	punct
14	whatever	whatever	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 sums	acl:relcl
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 area	det
16	area	area	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 whatever	nsubj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	receive	present	all schools in the United States	identical sums of money					vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sum=Theme
2	sum			money					nom sum «possession transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

Property taxation has no bearing whatsoever upon the funding of schools in any part of the country

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Property	property	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 taxation	compound
2	taxation	taxation	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 has	nsubj
3	has	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	5 bearing	det
5	bearing	bearing	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 has	obj
6	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	3 has	advmod
7	upon	upon	ADP	_	9 funding	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 funding	det
9	funding	funding	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 has	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 schools	case
11	schools	school	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 funding	nmod
12	in	in	ADP	_	14 part	case
13	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	14 part	det
14	part	part	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 schools	nmod
15	of	of	ADP	_	17 country	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 country	det
17	country	country	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 part	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	have	present	Property taxation	no bearing				upon the funding of schools in any part of the country; whatsoever property	vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bearing=Patient
2	fund			schools in any part of the country					nom funding «possession transitive»: of=patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Schools in wealthier areas may command greater resources than those in poorer areas

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Schools	school	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 command	nsubj
2	in	in	ADP	_	4 areas	case
3	wealthier	wealthy	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	4 areas	amod
4	areas	area	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Schools	nmod
5	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 command	aux
6	command	command	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
7	greater	great	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	8 resources	amod
8	resources	resource	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 command	obj
9	than	than	ADP	_	10 those	case
10	those	that	PRON	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	6 command	obl
11	in	in	ADP	_	13 areas	case
12	poorer	poor	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	13 areas	amod
13	areas	area	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 those	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	command	may	Schools in wealthier areas	greater resources				than those	vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.predicate»: agent=Agent resource=Eventuality

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/8-taxes-and-local-councils-bins-roads-and-schools/e4/