Exam question 4 · Humiliated in front of everyone: the moment that won't go…

Ascertain the course of action most likely to diminish the persistence of a nickname arising from an embarrassing incident.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, nickname · What happens: ascertain, diminish, arise · To what, where: course, persistence, embarrassing incident

This is exam question 4 of lesson 9 «Humiliated in front of everyone: the moment that won't go away» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 course	det
3	course	course	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 action	case
5	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 course	nmod
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 likely	advmod
7	likely	likely	ADV	_	1 Ascertain	advmod
8	to	to	PART	_	9 diminish	mark
9	diminish	diminish	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	1 Ascertain	advcl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 persistence	det
11	persistence	persistence	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 diminish	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 nickname	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 nickname	det
14	nickname	nickname	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 persistence	nmod
15	arising	arise	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	14 nickname	acl
16	from	from	ADP	_	19 incident	case
17	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	19 incident	det
18	embarrassing	embarrassing	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 incident	amod
19	incident	incident	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 arising	obl
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the course of action		likely property	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent course=Topic
2	diminish	to-infinitive	you not said here	the persistence of a nickname			vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer persistence=Patient
3	arise	gerund	a nickname not said here		a embarrassing incident		vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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 bestowal of a more offensive nickname upon the originator

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 bestowal	det
2	bestowal	bestowal	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	7 nickname	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 nickname	det
5	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	6 offensive	advmod
6	offensive	offensive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 nickname	amod
7	nickname	nickname	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 bestowal	nmod
8	upon	upon	ADP	_	10 originator	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 originator	det
10	originator	originator	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 nickname	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bestow			a offensive nickname upon the originator					nom bestowal «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

The vehement contradiction of the nickname upon each occasion

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 contradiction	det
2	vehement	vehement	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 contradiction	compound
3	contradiction	contradiction	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 nickname	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 nickname	det
6	nickname	nickname	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 contradiction	nmod
7	upon	upon	ADP	_	9 occasion	case
8	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	9 occasion	det
9	occasion	occasion	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 contradiction	nmod

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

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The absence of any angry reaction upon its use

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 absence	det
2	absence	absence	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 reaction	case
4	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	6 reaction	det
5	angry	angry	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 reaction	amod
6	reaction	reaction	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 absence	nmod
7	upon	upon	ADP	_	9 use	case
8	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 use	nmod:poss
9	use	use	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 reaction	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	absent			any angry reaction upon reaction's use					nom absence «state transitive»: of=patient
2	use		reaction						nom use «act transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

The formal adoption of a different name by deed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 adoption	det
2	formal	formal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 adoption	amod
3	adoption	adoption	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 name	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 name	det
6	different	different	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 name	amod
7	name	name	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 adoption	nmod
8	by	by	ADP	_	9 deed	case
9	deed	deed	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 name	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	adopt			a different name by deed					nom adoption «act transitive»: of=patient
2	name		deed						nom name «communication transitive»: by=agent

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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