Exam question 4 · Tricks the mind plays: inner voices, superstitions and bei…

In respect of the persistence of superstitious beliefs, determine which statement is correct.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, statement · What happens: determine, be, respect · To what, where: respect, persistence

This is exam question 4 of lesson 27 «Tricks the mind plays: inner voices, superstitions and being sure but wrong» 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 persistence	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 persistence	det
5	persistence	persistence	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 respect	nmod
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 beliefs	case
7	superstitious	superstitious	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 beliefs	amod
8	beliefs	belief	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 persistence	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 persistence of superstitious beliefs		vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	is	present	which statement			correct property	tree rules
3	respect			the persistence of superstitious beliefs			nom respect «cognition 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 · ✓ the right answer

Instances of apparent success are recalled while failures are forgotten

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Instances	instance	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 recalled	nsubj:pass
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 success	case
3	apparent	apparent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 success	amod
4	success	success	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Instances	nmod
5	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 recalled	aux:pass
6	recalled	recall	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	while	while	SCONJ	_	10 forgotten	mark
8	failures	failure	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 forgotten	nsubj
9	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 forgotten	aux:pass
10	forgotten	forget	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 recalled	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	roles by
1	recall	present · passive	Instances of apparent success	vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	forget	present · passive	failures	tree rules
3	instance		apparent success	nom instance «event transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

Superstitions are persistently confirmed by scientific evidence

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Superstitions	superstition	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 confirmed	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 confirmed	aux:pass
3	persistently	persistently	ADV	_	4 confirmed	advmod
4	confirmed	confirm	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 evidence	case
6	scientific	scientific	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 evidence	amod
7	evidence	evidence	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 confirmed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	confirm	present · passive	scientific evidence	Superstitions				persistently property	vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot subject=Topic

Option 3

Superstitions are maintained solely by persons of low intelligence or poor education

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Superstitions	superstition	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 maintained	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 maintained	aux:pass
3	maintained	maintain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	solely	solely	ADV	_	3 maintained	advmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 persons	case
6	persons	person	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 maintained	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 intelligence	case
8	low	low	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 intelligence	amod
9	intelligence	intelligence	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 persons	nmod
10	or	or	CCONJ	_	12 education	cc
11	poor	poor	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 education	amod
12	education	education	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 intelligence	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	maintain	present · passive	persons of low intelligence or poor education	Superstitions				solely property	vn declare-29.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent subject=Theme

Option 4

Lucky objects measurably improve examination performance

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Lucky	lucky	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 objects	amod
2	objects	object	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 improve	nsubj
3	measurably	measurably	ADV	_	4 improve	advmod
4	improve	improve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	examination	examination	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 performance	compound
6	performance	performance	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 improve	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	improve	present	Lucky objects	examination performance				measurably property	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent performance=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/reflection/27-tricks-the-mind-plays-inner-voices-superstitions-and-being-sure-but-wrong/e4/