Exam question 4 · Letting a friend down: broken promises and spilled secrets

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning a person who witnesses unkindness but does not intervene.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts, person · What happens: select, establish, concern, witness, not intervene · To what, where: response, person, unkindness

This is exam question 4 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 person	det
11	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 witnesses	nsubj
13	witnesses	witness	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 person	acl:relcl
14	unkindness	unkindness	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 witnesses	obj
15	but	but	CCONJ	_	18 intervene	cc
16	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	18 intervene	aux
17	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	18 intervene	advmod
18	intervene	intervene	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	13 witnesses	conj
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	a person		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus person=Experiencer
4	witness	present	a person	unkindness		vn captain-29.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent unkindness=Beneficiary
5	not intervene	present · do-support	a person not said here			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

Such a person bears no relation whatsoever to the incident

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Such	such	DET	PronType=Ind	4 bears	det:predet
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 bears	det
3	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 bears	compound
4	bears	bear	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
5	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	6 relation	det
6	relation	relation	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 bears	nmod:unmarked
7	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	4 bears	advmod
8	to	to	ADP	_	10 incident	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 incident	det
10	incident	incident	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 whatsoever	obl

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 2

Such a person is incapable of acting differently on any future occasion

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Such	such	DET	PronType=Ind	3 person	det:predet
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 person	det
3	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 incapable	nsubj
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 incapable	cop
5	incapable	incapable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	of	of	SCONJ	_	7 acting	mark
7	acting	act	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 incapable	advcl
8	differently	differently	ADV	_	7 acting	advmod
9	on	on	ADP	_	12 occasion	case
10	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	12 occasion	det
11	future	future	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 occasion	amod
12	occasion	occasion	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 acting	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	such person					incapable property	tree rules
2	act	gerund	such person not said here			any future occasion		differently property	vn act-114-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent on occasion=Eventuality

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Such a person is termed a bystander, and fear commonly induces such inaction

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Such	such	DET	PronType=Ind	3 person	det:predet
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 person	det
3	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 termed	nsubj:pass
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 termed	aux:pass
5	termed	term	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 bystander	det
7	bystander	bystander	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 termed	obj
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 induces	punct
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 induces	cc
10	fear	fear	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 induces	nsubj
11	commonly	commonly	ADV	_	12 induces	advmod
12	induces	induce	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 termed	conj
13	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 inaction	amod
14	inaction	inaction	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 induces	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	term	present · passive		such person					vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP NP»: subject=Theme bystander=Result
2	induce	present	fear	such inaction				commonly property	vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent inaction=Patient

Option 4

Such a person is invariably the instigator of the unkindness

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Such	such	DET	PronType=Ind	3 person	det:predet
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 person	det
3	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 instigator	nsubj
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 instigator	cop
5	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	7 instigator	advmod
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 instigator	det
7	instigator	instigator	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 unkindness	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 unkindness	det
10	unkindness	unkindness	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 instigator	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	such person	the instigator				of the unkindness; invariably property	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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