Exam question 2 · Whistle-blowing: when to tell

Given that a member of a group is being harmed by other members, identify the course of action most consistent with sound ethical reasoning.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, other members · What happens: give, harm, identify · To what, where: member, course

This is exam question 2 of lesson 45 «Whistle-blowing: when to tell» 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	Given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	15 identify	advcl
2	that	that	SCONJ	_	10 harmed	mark
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 member	det
4	member	member	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 harmed	nsubj:pass
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 group	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 group	det
7	group	group	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 member	nmod
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 harmed	aux:pass
9	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	10 harmed	aux:pass
10	harmed	harm	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Given	advcl
11	by	by	ADP	_	13 members	case
12	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 members	amod
13	members	member	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 harmed	obl
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Given	punct
15	identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 course	det
17	course	course	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 identify	obj
18	of	of	ADP	_	19 action	case
19	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 course	nmod
20	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	21 consistent	advmod
21	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 action	amod
22	with	with	ADP	_	23 sound	case
23	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 consistent	obl
24	ethical	ethical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	25 reasoning	amod
25	reasoning	reasoning	NOUN	Number=Sing	23 sound	conj
26	.	.	PUNCT	_	15 identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	give	participle	you not said here		vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient
2	harm	present · passive	other members	a member of a group	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus subject=Experiencer
3	identify	imperative	you not said here	the course of action	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent course=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

Maintenance of silence, loyalty to the group being of paramount and overriding importance in every case

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Maintenance	maintenance	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 paramount	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	3 silence	case
3	silence	silence	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Maintenance	nmod
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 loyalty	punct
5	loyalty	loyalty	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 paramount	nsubj
6	to	to	ADP	_	8 group	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 group	det
8	group	group	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 loyalty	nmod
9	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	11 paramount	cop
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 paramount	case
11	paramount	paramount	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 overriding	cc
13	overriding	override	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	11 paramount	conj
14	importance	importance	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 overriding	obj
15	in	in	ADP	_	17 case	case
16	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	17 case	det
17	case	case	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 overriding	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	is	gerund	Maintenance of silence			of paramount	tree rules
2	override	gerund	Maintenance of silence not said here	importance	every case		tree rules
3	maintain			silence			nom maintenance «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

Retaliation against the perpetrators by equivalent means

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Retaliation	retaliation	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 means	nsubj
2	against	against	ADP	_	4 perpetrators	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 perpetrators	det
4	perpetrators	perpetrator	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Retaliation	nmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 equivalent	case
6	equivalent	equivalent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 perpetrators	nmod
7	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mean	present	Retaliation against the perpetrators by equivalent						vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent

Option 3

Deferral of any action until such time as the harm has increased

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Deferral	deferral	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 increased	nsubj:pass
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 action	case
3	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	4 action	det
4	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Deferral	nmod
5	until	until	ADP	_	7 time	case
6	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 time	amod
7	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 action	nmod
8	as	as	ADP	_	10 harm	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 harm	det
10	harm	harm	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 time	nmod
11	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 increased	aux
12	increased	increase	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	increase	present · perfect · passive		Deferral of any action until such time as the harm					vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient
2	defer			any action until such time as the harm					nom deferral «state transitive»: of=patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Disclosure to a trusted adult, the protection of the vulnerable outweighing loyalty to the group

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Disclosure	disclosure	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	to	to	ADP	_	5 adult	case
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 adult	det
4	trusted	trust	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 adult	amod
5	adult	adult	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Disclosure	nmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 protection	punct
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 protection	det
8	protection	protection	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Disclosure	conj
9	of	of	ADP	_	13 loyalty	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 loyalty	det
11	vulnerable	vulnerable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 loyalty	amod
12	outweighing	outweigh	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	13 loyalty	amod
13	loyalty	loyalty	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 protection	nmod
14	to	to	ADP	_	16 group	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 group	det
16	group	group	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 loyalty	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	roles by
1	trust	participle		vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	outweigh	gerund		vn exceed-90 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot
3	protect		the vulnerable outweighing loyalty to the group	nom protection «act transitive»: of=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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