Exam question 4 · Living well because life is short

Whereas it is asserted that the inevitability of death renders all endeavour pointless, ascertain the response most consistent with the matters taught.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, matters · What happens: assert, ascertain, teach · To what, where: it, response

This is exam question 4 of lesson 76 «Living well because life is short» 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	Whereas	whereas	SCONJ	_	4 asserted	mark
2	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 asserted	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 asserted	aux:pass
4	asserted	assert	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	15 ascertain	advcl
5	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 inevitability	mark
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 inevitability	det
7	inevitability	inevitability	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 asserted	xcomp
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 renders	case
9	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 renders	compound
10	renders	render	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 inevitability	nmod
11	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	12 endeavour	det
12	endeavour	endeavour	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 asserted	obj
13	pointless	pointless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 endeavour	amod
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 asserted	punct
15	ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 response	det
17	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 ascertain	obj
18	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	19 consistent	advmod
19	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 response	amod
20	with	with	SCONJ	_	23 taught	mark
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 matters	det
22	matters	matter	NOUN	Number=Plur	23 taught	nsubj
23	taught	teach	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	19 consistent	advcl
24	.	.	PUNCT	_	15 ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	assert	present · passive		it	vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V NP to be NP»: subject=Theme endeavour=Eventuality
2	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the response	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Topic
3	teach speech: other	past	the matters		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: 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

Only endeavours of permanent duration possess any worth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Only	only	ADV	_	2 endeavours	advmod
2	endeavours	endeavour	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 possess	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 duration	case
4	permanent	permanent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 duration	amod
5	duration	duration	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 endeavours	nmod
6	possess	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	8 worth	det
8	worth	worth	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 possess	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	present	endeavours of permanent duration	any worth					vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot worth=Theme
2	endeavour		permanent duration						nom endeavour «act intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

All endeavour is indeed pointless and ought to be abandoned

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	All	all	DET	PronType=Tot	2 endeavour	det
2	endeavour	endeavour	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 pointless	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 pointless	cop
4	indeed	indeed	ADV	_	5 pointless	advmod
5	pointless	pointless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 abandoned	cc
7	ought	ought	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	10 abandoned	aux
8	to	to	PART	_	10 abandoned	mark
9	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	10 abandoned	aux:pass
10	abandoned	abandon	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 pointless	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	all endeavour					indeed, pointless property	tree rules
2	abandon	ought · passive	all endeavour not said here						vn leave-51.2 «NP V NP.initial_location»

Option 3

Worth is to be measured solely by accumulated possessions

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Worth	worth	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 measured	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 measured	aux:pass
3	to	to	PART	_	5 measured	mark
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 measured	aux:pass
5	measured	measure	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	solely	solely	ADV	_	5 measured	advmod
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 possessions	case
8	accumulated	accumulate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 possessions	amod
9	possessions	possession	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 measured	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	measure	present · passive	accumulated possessions	Worth				solely property	vn register-54.1-2-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme subject=Value
2	accumulate	participle							vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Things of limited duration, such as love and kindness, retain their worth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Things	thing	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 retain	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 duration	case
3	limited	limited	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 duration	amod
4	duration	duration	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Things	nmod
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 love	punct
6	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	8 love	case
7	as	as	ADP	_	6 such	fixed
8	love	love	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 duration	appos
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 kindness	cc
10	kindness	kindness	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 love	conj
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Things	punct
12	retain	retain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
13	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 worth	nmod:poss
14	worth	worth	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 retain	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	retain	present	Things of limited duration	Things's worth					tree rules

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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