Exam question 1 · Souls, ghosts and stories

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the evidence concerning the existence of ghosts?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: evidence, ghosts · What happens: follow, characteris, concern, exist · To what, where: evidence, existence

This is exam question 1 of lesson 74 «Souls, ghosts and stories» 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 evidence	det
10	evidence	evidence	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 evidence	acl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 existence	det
13	existence	existence	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 concerning	obj
14	of	of	ADP	_	15 ghosts	case
15	ghosts	ghost	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 existence	nmod
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the evidence	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	concern	gerund	the evidence not said here	the existence of ghosts		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus existence=Experiencer
4	exist		ghosts			nom existence «state intransitive»: of=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

Their existence is affirmed in the Christian creeds

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 existence	nmod:poss
2	existence	existence	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 affirmed	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 affirmed	aux:pass
4	affirmed	affirm	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	8 creeds	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 creeds	det
7	Christian	Christian	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 creeds	amod
8	creeds	creed	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 affirmed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	affirm	present · passive		Their existence		the Christian creeds			vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus
2	exist		Their = they						nom existence «state intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 2

Scientific investigation has conclusively demonstrated their existence

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Scientific	scientific	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 investigation	amod
2	investigation	investigation	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 demonstrated	nsubj:pass
3	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 demonstrated	aux
4	conclusively	conclusively	ADV	_	5 demonstrated	advmod
5	demonstrated	demonstrate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 existence	nmod:poss
7	existence	existence	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 demonstrated	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	demonstrate	present · perfect · passive		Scientific investigation				conclusively property	tree rules
2	exist		their = they						nom existence «state intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 3

Ghosts have been observed by every person who has grieved

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Ghosts	ghost	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 observed	nsubj:pass
2	have	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 observed	aux
3	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	4 observed	aux:pass
4	observed	observe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 person	case
6	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	7 person	det
7	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 observed	obl
8	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 grieved	nsubj
9	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 grieved	aux
10	grieved	grieve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	7 person	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	observe	present · perfect · passive	every person	Ghosts					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent subject=Topic
2	grieve	present · perfect	every person						vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

No reliable evidence establishes that ghosts exist

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	DET	PronType=Neg	3 evidence	det
2	reliable	reliable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 evidence	amod
3	evidence	evidence	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 establishes	nsubj
4	establishes	establish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 exist	mark
6	ghosts	ghost	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 exist	nsubj
7	exist	exist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 establishes	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	establish	present	no reliable evidence						vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot clause=Topic
2	exist	present	ghosts						vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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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