Exam question 1 · White lies: the ugly jumper and the bad drawing

Which of the following most accurately characterises a "white lie"?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: white lie

This is exam question 1 of lesson 83 «White lies: the ugly jumper and the bad drawing» 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	4 following	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 following	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 following	det
4	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	6 accurately	advmod
6	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	7 characterises	advmod
7	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 following	advcl
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 lie	det
9	"	"	PUNCT	_	11 lie	punct
10	white	white	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 lie	amod
11	lie	lie	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 characterises	obj
12	"	"	PUNCT	_	11 lie	punct
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 following	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		a white lie				accurately property	tree rules

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 right answer

A minor falsehood uttered with the intention of sparing the feelings of another

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 falsehood	det
2	minor	minor	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 falsehood	amod
3	falsehood	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	uttered	utter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 falsehood	acl
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 intention	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 intention	det
7	intention	intention	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 uttered	obl
8	of	of	SCONJ	_	9 sparing	mark
9	sparing	spare	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 intention	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 feelings	det
11	feelings	feeling	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 sparing	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 another	case
13	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	11 feelings	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	utter speech: other	participle		a minor falsehood not said here				with the intention	vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
2	spare	gerund	the intention not said here	the feelings of another					vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: agent=Agent feeling=Asset

Option 2

A truthful statement uttered with the intention of causing distress

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 statement	det
2	truthful	truthful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 statement	amod
3	statement	statement	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	uttered	utter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 statement	acl
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 intention	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 intention	det
7	intention	intention	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 uttered	obl
8	of	of	SCONJ	_	9 causing	mark
9	causing	cause	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 intention	acl
10	distress	distress	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 causing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	utter speech: other	participle		a truthful statement not said here				with the intention	vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
2	cause	gerund	the intention not said here	distress					vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition distress=Patient

Option 3

A grave falsehood uttered with the intention of procuring another's punishment

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 falsehood	det
2	grave	grave	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 falsehood	amod
3	falsehood	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	uttered	utter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 falsehood	acl
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 intention	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 intention	det
7	intention	intention	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 uttered	obl
8	of	of	SCONJ	_	9 procuring	mark
9	procuring	procure	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 intention	acl
10	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	12 punishment	nmod:poss
11	's	's	PART	_	10 another	case
12	punishment	punishment	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 procuring	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	utter speech: other	participle		a grave falsehood not said here				with the intention	vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
2	procure	gerund	the intention not said here	another's punishment					vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent punishment=Theme

Option 4

A falsehood uttered exclusively in respect of matters of meteorology

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 falsehood	det
2	falsehood	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	uttered	utter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 falsehood	acl
4	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	3 uttered	advmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 respect	case
6	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 uttered	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 matters	case
8	matters	matter	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 respect	nmod
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 meteorology	case
10	meteorology	meteorology	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 matters	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	utter speech: other	participle		a falsehood not said here	respect of matters of meteorology	exclusively property	vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
2	respect			matters of meteorology			nom respect «cognition transitive»: of=patient
3	matter		meteorology				nom matter «cognition intransitive»: of=agent

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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