Exam question 4 · When nobody sits with you: making friends again

In respect of the acquisition of swimming ability, determine which statement is correct.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, statement · What happens: determine, be, respect, acquire · To what, where: respect, acquisition, swimming ability

This is exam question 4 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	In	in	ADP	_	2 respect	case
2	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 determine	obl
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 acquisition	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 acquisition	det
5	acquisition	acquisition	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 respect	nmod
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 ability	case
7	swimming	swimming	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 ability	compound
8	ability	ability	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 acquisition	nmod
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 respect	punct
10	determine	determine	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
11	which	which	DET	PronType=Int	12 statement	det
12	statement	statement	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 correct	nsubj
13	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 correct	cop
14	correct	correct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 determine	ccomp
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	10 determine	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	determine	imperative	you not said here		respect of the acquisition of swimming ability		vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	is	present	which statement			correct property	tree rules
3	respect			the acquisition of swimming ability			nom respect «cognition transitive»: of=patient
4	acquire			swimming ability			nom acquisition «act transitive»: of=patient

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

Swimming cannot be learned after the age of seven

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Swimming	swimming	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 learned	nsubj:pass
2	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 learned	aux
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 learned	advmod
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 learned	aux:pass
5	learned	learn	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	after	after	ADP	_	8 age	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 age	det
8	age	age	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 learned	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 seven	case
10	seven	seven	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	8 age	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not learn	can · passive		Swimming			after the age of seven		vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic

Option 2

Swimming is acquired solely by entering deep water unaided

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Swimming	swimming	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 acquired	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 acquired	aux:pass
3	acquired	acquire	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	solely	solely	ADV	_	3 acquired	advmod
5	by	by	SCONJ	_	6 entering	mark
6	entering	enter	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 acquired	advcl
7	deep	deep	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 water	amod
8	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 entering	obj
9	unaided	unaided	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 entering	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	acquire	present · passive		Swimming				solely property	vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Theme
2	enter	gerund		deep water				unaided property	vn escape-51.1-1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme water=Destination

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Swimming may be learned at any age with instruction

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Swimming	swimming	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 learned	nsubj:pass
2	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 learned	aux
3	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	4 learned	aux:pass
4	learned	learn	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	at	at	ADP	_	7 age	case
6	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	7 age	det
7	age	age	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 learned	obl
8	with	with	ADP	_	9 instruction	case
9	instruction	instruction	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 age	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	learn	may · passive		Swimming			at any age with instruction		vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic

Option 4

Persons unable to swim at nine shall remain so permanently

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Persons	person	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 remain	nsubj
2	unable	unable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Persons	amod
3	to	to	PART	_	4 swim	mark
4	swim	swim	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 unable	xcomp
5	at	at	ADP	_	6 nine	case
6	nine	nine	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 swim	obl
7	shall	shall	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	8 remain	aux
8	remain	remain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
9	so	so	ADV	_	10 permanently	advmod
10	permanently	permanently	ADV	_	8 remain	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	swim	to-infinitive	Persons not said here			nine			vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at nine=Trajectory
2	remain	shall	Persons					permanently property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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/e4/