Exam question 4 · The old dog, the vet and the hardest goodbye

Ascertain the reason for which an aged or sickly cat may withdraw to a concealed place before death.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, aged cat · What happens: ascertain, withdraw, conceal · To what, where: reason, concealed place

This is exam question 4 of lesson 56 «The old dog, the vet and the hardest goodbye» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 withdraw	obl
6	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 cat	det
7	aged	aged	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 cat	amod
8	or	or	CCONJ	_	9 sickly	cc
9	sickly	sickly	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 aged	conj
10	cat	cat	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 withdraw	nsubj
11	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	12 withdraw	aux
12	withdraw	withdraw	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 reason	parataxis
13	to	to	ADP	_	16 place	case
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 place	det
15	concealed	conceal	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	16 place	amod
16	place	place	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 withdraw	obl
17	before	before	ADP	_	18 death	case
18	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 withdraw	obl
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason				vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	withdraw	may	a aged cat		a concealed place	before death	for the reason	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to place=Initial_Location
3	conceal	participle						vn concealment-16 «NP V NP»: 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

Punishment for misconduct during its life

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Punishment	punishment	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	for	for	ADP	_	3 misconduct	case
3	misconduct	misconduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Punishment	nmod
4	during	during	ADP	_	6 life	case
5	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 life	nmod:poss
6	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Punishment	nmod

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

Option 2

A desire to find a more agreeable household elsewhere in the district

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 desire	det
2	desire	desire	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 find	mark
4	find	find	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 desire	acl
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 household	det
6	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	7 agreeable	advmod
7	agreeable	agreeable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 household	amod
8	household	household	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 find	obj
9	elsewhere	elsewhere	ADV	_	4 find	advmod
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 district	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 district	det
12	district	district	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 find	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	find	to-infinitive		a agreeable household		the district		elsewhere property	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent household=Topic

Option 3

A deliberate rejection of its owners

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 rejection	det
2	deliberate	deliberate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 rejection	amod
3	rejection	rejection	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 owners	case
5	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 owners	nmod:poss
6	owners	owner	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 rejection	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reject			rejection's owners					nom rejection «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Instinct, and not any lack of attachment to its household

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Instinct	instinct	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 lack	punct
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 lack	cc
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	6 lack	advmod
5	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	6 lack	det
6	lack	lack	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Instinct	appos
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 attachment	case
8	attachment	attachment	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 lack	nmod
9	to	to	ADP	_	11 household	case
10	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 household	nmod:poss
11	household	household	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 attachment	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lack			attachment to attachment's household					nom lack «state 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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/religion-ethics/56-the-old-dog-the-vet-and-the-hardest-goodbye/e4/