Exam question 2 · Old guilt: secrets that grow and how to let them go

Identify the principal reason for which an untruth is said to "snowball".

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, say · To what, where: principal reason, untruth, snowball · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 2 of lesson 17 «Old guilt: secrets that grow and how to let them go» of the reflection 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 said	obl
7	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 untruth	det
8	untruth	untruth	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 said	nsubj:pass
9	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 said	aux:pass
10	said	say	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 reason	acl:relcl
11	to	to	ADP	_	13 snowball	case
12	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 snowball	punct
13	snowball	snowball	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 said	obl
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 snowball	punct
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	say speech: assert	present · passive		a untruth	snowball			for the principal reason	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Topic to snowball=Recipient

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

Falsehoods are habitually uttered during winter months

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Falsehoods	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 uttered	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 uttered	aux:pass
3	habitually	habitually	ADV	_	4 uttered	advmod
4	uttered	utter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	during	during	ADP	_	7 months	case
6	winter	winter	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 months	compound
7	months	month	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 uttered	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	utter speech: other	present · passive		Falsehoods			month	habitually property	vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic

Option 2

The original falsehood is invariably forgotten by its hearers

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 falsehood	det
2	original	original	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 falsehood	amod
3	falsehood	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 forgotten	nsubj
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 forgotten	aux:pass
5	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	6 forgotten	advmod
6	forgotten	forget	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 hearers	case
8	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 hearers	nmod:poss
9	hearers	hearer	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 forgotten	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	forget	present · passive	falsehood's hearers	the original falsehood				invariably property	tree rules

Option 3

Untruths diminish in magnitude with the passage of time

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Untruths	untruth	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 diminish	nsubj
2	diminish	diminish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	4 magnitude	case
4	magnitude	magnitude	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 diminish	obl
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 passage	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 passage	det
7	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 diminish	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 time	case
9	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 passage	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	diminish	present	Untruths			magnitude		with the passage of time	vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
2	pass		time						nom passage «act intransitive»: of=agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Each falsehood necessitates further falsehoods to conceal it

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 falsehood	det
2	falsehood	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 necessitates	nsubj
3	necessitates	necessitate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	further	further	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 falsehoods	amod
5	falsehoods	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 necessitates	obj
6	to	to	PART	_	7 conceal	mark
7	conceal	conceal	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 necessitates	advcl
8	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 conceal	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	necessitate	present	each falsehood	further falsehoods					vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme falsehood=Precondition
2	conceal	to-infinitive	each falsehood not said here	falsehood					vn concealment-16 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=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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