Exam question 1 · How to argue: reasons and evidence

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the constituents of a sound argument?

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

This is exam question 1 of lesson 39 «How to argue: reasons and evidence» of the religion ethics 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	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 constituents	det
10	constituents	constituent	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 argument	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 argument	det
13	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 argument	compound
14	argument	argument	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 constituents	nmod
15	?	?	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		the constituents of a sound argument				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 · ← Mova's choice

A claim, supported solely by an appeal to its general popularity

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 claim	det
2	claim	claim	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 supported	punct
4	supported	support	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 claim	acl
5	solely	solely	ADV	_	4 supported	advmod
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 appeal	case
7	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 appeal	det
8	appeal	appeal	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 supported	obl
9	to	to	ADP	_	12 popularity	case
10	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 popularity	nmod:poss
11	general	general	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 popularity	amod
12	popularity	popularity	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 appeal	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	support	participle		a claim not said here				by a appeal to appeal's general popularity; solely property	vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

A claim, a reason in support thereof, and evidence substantiating the reason

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 claim	det
2	claim	claim	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 reason	punct
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 reason	det
5	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 claim	conj
6	in	in	ADP	_	7 support	case
7	support	support	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 reason	nmod
8	thereof	thereof	ADV	_	5 reason	advmod
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 evidence	punct
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 evidence	cc
11	evidence	evidence	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 claim	conj
12	substantiating	substantiate	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	11 evidence	acl
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 reason	det
14	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 substantiating	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	substantiate	gerund	evidence not said here	the reason					tree rules

Option 3

A claim, accompanied by a criticism of the character of the opponent

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 claim	det
2	claim	claim	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 accompanied	punct
4	accompanied	accompany	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 claim	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 criticism	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 criticism	det
7	criticism	criticism	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 accompanied	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 character	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 character	det
10	character	character	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 criticism	nmod
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 opponent	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 opponent	det
13	opponent	opponent	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 character	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	accompany	participle		a claim not said here				by a criticism of the character of the opponent	vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent by criticism=Destination

Option 4

A claim, repeated with increasing emphasis until assent is obtained

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 claim	det
2	claim	claim	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 obtained	nsubj:pass
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 repeated	punct
4	repeated	repeat	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 claim	acl
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 emphasis	case
6	increasing	increasing	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 emphasis	amod
7	emphasis	emphasis	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 repeated	obl
8	until	until	ADP	_	9 assent	case
9	assent	assent	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 repeated	obl
10	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 obtained	aux:pass
11	obtained	obtain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	repeat	participle		a claim not said here			until assent	with increasing emphasis	vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V PP.subeventuality»: agent=Eventuality with emphasis=Subeventuality
2	obtain	present · passive		a claim					vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Theme

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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