Exam question 4 · Lifeboat choices

Where a dilemma admits of no clearly correct resolution, determine the course which sound ethical reasoning recommends.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: dilemma, you, course, ethical reasoning · What happens: admit, determine, sound, recommend · To what, where: course

This is exam question 4 of lesson 48 «Lifeboat choices» 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	Where	where	ADV	PronType=Rel	4 admits	advmod
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 dilemma	det
3	dilemma	dilemma	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 admits	nsubj
4	admits	admit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 determine	advcl
5	of	of	ADP	_	9 resolution	case
6	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	9 resolution	det
7	clearly	clearly	ADV	_	8 correct	advmod
8	correct	correct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 resolution	amod
9	resolution	resolution	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 admits	obl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 determine	punct
11	determine	determine	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 course	det
13	course	course	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 determine	obj
14	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	15 sound	nsubj
15	sound	sound	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 course	acl:relcl
16	ethical	ethical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 reasoning	amod
17	reasoning	reasoning	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 recommends	nsubj
18	recommends	recommend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 sound	ccomp
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	11 determine	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	admit speech: other	present	a dilemma		of no correct resolution	vn confess-37.10 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
2	determine	imperative	you not said here	the course		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent course=Topic
3	sound	present	the course			tree rules
4	recommend	present	ethical reasoning			vn say-37.7-1-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent

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 choice is to be delegated to whichever person is most popular

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 choice	det
2	choice	choice	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 delegated	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 delegated	aux
4	to	to	PART	_	6 delegated	mark
5	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 delegated	aux:pass
6	delegated	delegate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	to	to	ADP	_	9 person	case
8	whichever	whichever	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 person	compound
9	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 delegated	obl
10	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 delegated	cop
11	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	12 popular	advmod
12	popular	popular	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 delegated	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present · passive		the choice				to whichever person; delegate property	tree rules

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The least injurious option is to be chosen and the reasons honestly stated

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 option	det
2	least	least	ADV	Degree=Sup	3 injurious	advmod
3	injurious	injurious	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 option	amod
4	option	option	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 chosen	nsubj:pass
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 chosen	aux:pass
6	to	to	PART	_	8 chosen	mark
7	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	8 chosen	aux:pass
8	chosen	choose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 stated	cc
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 reasons	det
11	reasons	reason	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 stated	nsubj:pass
12	honestly	honestly	ADV	_	13 stated	advmod
13	stated	state	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 chosen	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	choose	present · passive		the injurious option					vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	state speech: other	participle · passive		the reasons				honestly property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic

Option 3

The choice is to be made at random without explanation

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 choice	det
2	choice	choice	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 made	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 made	aux:pass
4	to	to	PART	_	6 made	mark
5	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 made	aux:pass
6	made	make	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	at	at	ADP	_	8 random	case
8	random	random	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 made	obl
9	without	without	ADP	_	10 explanation	case
10	explanation	explanation	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 made	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	make	present · passive		the choice		random		without explanation	vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product

Option 4

All action is to be withheld so that no responsibility may attach to anyone

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	All	all	DET	PronType=Tot	2 action	det
2	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 withheld	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 withheld	aux
4	to	to	PART	_	6 withheld	mark
5	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 withheld	aux:pass
6	withheld	withhold	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	so	so	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	12 attach	mark
8	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 so	fixed
9	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	10 responsibility	det
10	responsibility	responsibility	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 attach	nsubj
11	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	12 attach	aux
12	attach	attach	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 withheld	advcl
13	to	to	ADP	_	14 anyone	case
14	anyone	anyone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	12 attach	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	withhold	present · passive		all action					tree rules
2	attach	may	no responsibility					to anyone	vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/religion-ethics/48-lifeboat-choices/e4/