Exam question 2 · Dilemmas about truth and friendship

Identify the principal distinction between the reporting of harm and the telling of tales.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, report, tell · To what, where: principal distinction, harm, tales · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 2 of lesson 41 «Dilemmas about truth and friendship» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 distinction	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 distinction	amod
4	distinction	distinction	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	between	between	ADP	_	7 reporting	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 reporting	det
7	reporting	reporting	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 distinction	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 harm	case
9	harm	harm	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 reporting	nmod
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 telling	cc
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 telling	det
12	telling	telling	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 reporting	conj
13	of	of	ADP	_	14 tales	case
14	tales	tale	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 telling	nmod
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal distinction	between the reporting of harm and the telling of tales	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent distinction=Theme
2	report			harm		nom reporting «communication transitive»: of=patient
3	tell			tales		nom telling «communication transitive»: of=patient

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 former is invariably anonymous; the latter is invariably public

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 former	det
2	former	former	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 anonymous	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 anonymous	cop
4	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	5 anonymous	advmod
5	anonymous	anonymous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	;	;	PUNCT	_	11 public	punct
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 latter	det
8	latter	latter	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 public	nsubj
9	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 public	cop
10	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	11 public	advmod
11	public	public	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 anonymous	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the former					anonymous, invariably property	tree rules
2	is	present	the latter					invariably, public property	tree rules

Option 2

The former is permitted only to adults; the latter only to minors

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 former	det
2	former	former	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 permitted	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 permitted	aux:pass
4	permitted	permit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	only	only	ADV	_	7 adults	advmod
6	to	to	ADP	_	7 adults	case
7	adults	adult	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 permitted	obl
8	;	;	PUNCT	_	13 minors	punct
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 latter	det
10	latter	latter	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 minors	nsubj
11	only	only	ADV	_	13 minors	advmod
12	to	to	ADP	_	13 minors	case
13	minors	minor	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 permitted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	permit	present · passive		the former				to adults; to minors	vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 3

The former concerns trivial and petty matters; the latter concerns grave and serious matters

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 concerns	det
2	former	former	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 concerns	amod
3	concerns	concern	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	trivial	trivial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 matters	amod
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 petty	cc
6	petty	petty	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 trivial	conj
7	matters	matter	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 concerns	conj
8	;	;	PUNCT	_	12 grave	punct
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 concerns	det
10	latter	latter	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 concerns	amod
11	concerns	concern	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 grave	nsubj
12	grave	grave	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 concerns	parataxis
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 matters	cc
14	serious	serious	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 matters	amod
15	matters	matter	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 grave	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	grave	present	the latter concerns						tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The former is undertaken to protect a person; the latter to procure another's punishment

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 former	det
2	former	former	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 undertaken	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 undertaken	aux:pass
4	undertaken	undertake	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 protect	mark
6	protect	protect	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 undertaken	xcomp
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 person	det
8	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 protect	obj
9	;	;	PUNCT	_	11 latter	punct
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 latter	det
11	latter	latter	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 undertaken	parataxis
12	to	to	PART	_	13 procure	mark
13	procure	procure	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	11 latter	csubj
14	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	16 punishment	nmod:poss
15	's	's	PART	_	14 another	case
16	punishment	punishment	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 procure	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	to whom	roles by
1	undertake	present · passive	the former		tree rules
2	protect	to-infinitive		a person	vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent person=Beneficiary
3	procure	to-infinitive	another's punishment		vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent punishment=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/religion-ethics/41-dilemmas-about-truth-and-friendship/e2/