Exam question 2 · When nobody sits with you: making friends again

Identify the principal reason for which a worried pupil may conclude that whispering friends are speaking ill of her.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, worried pupil, whispering friends · What happens: identify, conclude, whisper, speak · To what, where: principal reason · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 2 of lesson 23 «When nobody sits with you: making friends again» 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	11 conclude	obl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 pupil	det
8	worried	worried	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 pupil	amod
9	pupil	pupil	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 conclude	nsubj
10	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	11 conclude	aux
11	conclude	conclude	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 reason	acl:relcl
12	that	that	SCONJ	_	16 speaking	mark
13	whispering	whisper	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	14 friends	amod
14	friends	friend	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 speaking	nsubj
15	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	16 speaking	aux
16	speaking	speak	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	11 conclude	advcl
17	ill	ill	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 speaking	xcomp
18	of	of	ADP	_	19 her	case
19	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	17 ill	obl
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	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	conclude	may	a worried pupil		for the principal reason	vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
3	whisper speech: assert	gerund				vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent
4	speak speech: other	present · progressive	whispering friends		ill property	vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=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

Whispering is invariably employed to convey malicious remarks

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Whispering	whisper	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 employed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 employed	aux
3	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	4 employed	advmod
4	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 convey	mark
6	convey	convey	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 employed	xcomp
7	malicious	malicious	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 remarks	amod
8	remarks	remark	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 convey	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	whisper speech: assert	gerund			vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	employ	present · passive		invariably property	vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP to be NP»: subject=Theme clause=Attribute
3	convey	to-infinitive	malicious remarks		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent remark=Topic

Option 2

Pupils possess an accurate capacity to perceive others' thoughts

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Pupils	pupil	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 possess	nsubj
2	possess	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 capacity	det
4	accurate	accurate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 capacity	amod
5	capacity	capacity	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 possess	obj
6	to	to	PART	_	7 perceive	mark
7	perceive	perceive	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 possess	advcl
8	others	other	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 thoughts	nmod:poss
9	'	's	PART	_	8 others	case
10	thoughts	thought	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 perceive	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	possess	present	Pupils	a accurate capacity	vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot capacity=Theme
2	perceive	to-infinitive	Pupils not said here	others's thoughts	vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer thought=Stimulus
3	think		others		nom thought «cognition transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The anxious mind supplies the worst explanation where facts are absent

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 mind	det
2	anxious	anxious	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 mind	amod
3	mind	mind	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 supplies	nsubj
4	supplies	supply	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 explanation	det
6	worst	bad	ADJ	Degree=Sup	7 explanation	amod
7	explanation	explanation	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 supplies	obj
8	where	where	ADV	PronType=Rel	11 absent	advmod
9	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 absent	nsubj
10	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 absent	cop
11	absent	absent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 explanation	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	supply	present	the anxious mind	the worst explanation					vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent explanation=Recipient
2	is	present	facts					absent property	tree rules

Option 4

Friends are obliged by custom to disclose all conversations

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Friends	friend	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 obliged	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 obliged	aux:pass
3	obliged	oblige	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 custom	case
5	custom	custom	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 obliged	obl
6	to	to	PART	_	7 disclose	mark
7	disclose	disclose	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 obliged	advcl
8	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	9 conversations	det
9	conversations	conversation	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 disclose	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	oblige	present · passive	custom	Friends					vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient
2	disclose	to-infinitive	custom not said here	all conversations					vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot conversation=Topic

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/reflection/23-when-nobody-sits-with-you-making-friends-again/e2/