Exam question 2 · Reading people in hard times: what's really behind the mea…

Identify the principal reason for which an adult may assert that she is "fine" whilst visibly distressed.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, adult · What happens: identify, assert, be, distress · To what, where: principal reason · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 2 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	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 assert	obl
7	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 adult	det
8	adult	adult	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 assert	nsubj
9	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	10 assert	aux
10	assert	assert	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 reason	acl:relcl
11	that	that	SCONJ	_	15 fine	mark
12	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 fine	nsubj
13	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 fine	cop
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	15 fine	punct
15	fine	fine	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 assert	ccomp
16	"	"	PUNCT	_	15 fine	punct
17	whilst	whilst	SCONJ	_	19 distressed	mark
18	visibly	visibly	ADV	_	19 distressed	advmod
19	distressed	distress	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 assert	advcl
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	assert	may	a adult		for the principal reason	vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
3	is in a quote	present	adult		fine property	tree rules
4	distress	participle	a adult not said here		visibly property	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer

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

To protect a child from anxiety

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 protect	mark
2	protect	protect	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 child	det
4	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 protect	obj
5	from	from	ADP	_	6 anxiety	case
6	anxiety	anxiety	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 protect	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	protect	to-infinitive			a child			from anxiety	vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent child=Beneficiary from anxiety=Theme

Option 2

Because adults are incapable of sadness

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Because	because	SCONJ	_	4 incapable	mark
2	adults	adult	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 incapable	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 incapable	cop
4	incapable	incapable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 sadness	case
6	sadness	sadness	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 incapable	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	adults					of sadness; incapable property	tree rules

Option 3

To deceive the child for malicious ends

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 deceive	mark
2	deceive	deceive	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 child	det
4	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 deceive	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	7 ends	case
6	malicious	malicious	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 ends	amod
7	ends	end	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 deceive	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	deceive	to-infinitive		the child			for malicious ends		vn trick-59.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent child=Patient

Option 4

Because distress is a sign of contentment

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Because	because	ADP	ExtPos=ADP	2 distress	case
2	distress	distress	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 sign	obl
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 sign	cop
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 sign	det
5	sign	sign	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 contentment	case
7	contentment	contentment	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 sign	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present		a sign				because distress; of contentment	tree rules

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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