Exam question 1 · Reading people in hard times: what's really behind the mea…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a sudden change towards unkind conduct in a friend?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: sudden change

This is exam question 1 of lesson 28 «Reading people in hard times: what's really behind the mean face» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 change	det
10	sudden	sudden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 change	amod
11	change	change	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	towards	towards	ADP	_	14 conduct	case
13	unkind	unkind	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 conduct	amod
14	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obl
15	in	in	ADP	_	17 friend	case
16	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 friend	det
17	friend	friend	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 conduct	nmod
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		a sudden change				of the following statements; towards unkind conduct in a friend; accurately property	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.

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

It is wholly attributable to the conduct of the recipient

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	4 attributable	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 attributable	cop
3	wholly	wholly	ADV	_	4 attributable	advmod
4	attributable	attributable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 conduct	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 conduct	det
7	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 attributable	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 recipient	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 recipient	det
10	recipient	recipient	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 conduct	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					to the conduct of the recipient; attributable, wholly property	tree rules
2	conduct			the recipient					nom conduct «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

It frequently arises from undisclosed difficulties in the friend's own life

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 arises	nsubj
2	frequently	frequently	ADV	_	3 arises	advmod
3	arises	arise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 difficulties	case
5	undisclosed	undisclos	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 difficulties	amod
6	difficulties	difficulty	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 arises	obl
7	in	in	ADP	_	12 life	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 friend	det
9	friend	friend	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 life	nmod:poss
10	's	's	PART	_	9 friend	case
11	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 life	amod
12	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 arises	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	arise	present	It			undisclosed difficulties		in the friend's own life; frequently property	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in life=Location
2	undisclos	participle							tree rules

Option 3

It is a reliable indication of an unkind character from birth

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	5 indication	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 indication	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 indication	det
4	reliable	reliable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 indication	amod
5	indication	indication	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	of	of	ADP	_	9 character	case
7	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 character	det
8	unkind	unkind	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 character	amod
9	character	character	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 indication	nmod
10	from	from	ADP	_	11 birth	case
11	birth	birth	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 character	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a reliable indication				of a unkind character from birth	tree rules

Option 4

It invariably reflects a deliberate decision to end the friendship

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 reflects	nsubj
2	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	3 reflects	advmod
3	reflects	reflect	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 decision	det
5	deliberate	deliberate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 decision	amod
6	decision	decision	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 reflects	obj
7	to	to	PART	_	8 end	mark
8	end	end	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 reflects	advcl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 friendship	det
10	friendship	friendship	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 end	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reflect	present	It	a deliberate decision				invariably property	tree rules
2	end	to-infinitive		the friendship					vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality friendship=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.

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