Exam question 1 · Letting a friend down: broken promises and spilled secrets

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises an adequate apology?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: adequate apology

This is exam question 1 of lesson 4 «Letting a friend down: broken promises and spilled secrets» 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	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 apology	det
10	adequate	adequate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 apology	amod
11	apology	apology	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	?	?	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 adequate apology				of the following statements; 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

It obliges the injured party to restore complete trust immediately

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	2 obliges	nsubj
2	obliges	oblige	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 party	det
4	injured	injured	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 party	amod
5	party	party	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 obliges	obj
6	to	to	PART	_	7 restore	mark
7	restore	restore	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 party	acl
8	complete	complete	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 trust	amod
9	trust	trust	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 restore	obj
10	immediately	immediately	ADV	_	7 restore	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	oblige	present	It	the injured party					vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent party=Patient
2	restore	to-infinitive		complete trust				immediately property	vn contribute-13.2 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent trust=Theme

Option 2

It consists solely of a brief written message despatched electronically

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	2 consists	nsubj
2	consists	consist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	solely	solely	ADV	_	8 message	advmod
4	of	of	ADP	_	8 message	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 message	det
6	brief	brief	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 message	compound
7	written	write	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 message	amod
8	message	message	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 consists	obj
9	despatched	despatch	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 message	acl
10	electronically	electronically	ADV	_	9 despatched	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	consist	present	It	a brief written message		tree rules
2	write	participle				vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	despatch	participle		a brief written message not said here	electronically property	tree rules

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

It is effective only where the injured party apologises first

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 effective	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 effective	cop
3	effective	effective	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	only	only	ADV	_	9 apologises	advmod
5	where	where	ADV	PronType=Rel	9 apologises	advmod
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 party	det
7	injured	injure	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 party	amod
8	party	party	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 apologises	nsubj
9	apologises	apologise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 effective	advcl
10	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	9 apologises	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	is	present	It	effective property	tree rules
2	injure	participle			tree rules
3	apologise speech: apologize	present	the injured party	first property	tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It acknowledges the wrong without excuse and is accompanied by altered conduct

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	2 acknowledges	nsubj
2	acknowledges	acknowledge	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 wrong	det
4	wrong	wrong	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 acknowledges	obj
5	without	without	ADP	_	6 excuse	case
6	excuse	excuse	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 acknowledges	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 accompanied	cc
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 accompanied	aux:pass
9	accompanied	accompany	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 acknowledges	conj
10	by	by	ADP	_	12 conduct	case
11	altered	alter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 conduct	amod
12	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 accompanied	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	acknowledge	present	It	the wrong	without excuse	vn confess-37.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wrong=Topic
2	accompany	present · passive	altered conduct			vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	alter	participle				vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=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.

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