Exam question 4 · White lies: the ugly jumper and the bad drawing

Ascertain which statement concerning the moral status of white lies is consistent with the established positions of the thinkers named in this lesson.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, concerning · What happens: ascertain, concern, be, establish, name · To what, where: statement, moral status, thinkers, lesson

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	which	which	DET	PronType=Int	3 statement	det
3	statement	statement	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	12 consistent	csubj
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 status	det
6	moral	moral	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 status	amod
7	status	status	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 concerning	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 lies	case
9	white	white	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 lies	amod
10	lies	lie	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 status	nmod
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 consistent	cop
12	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 statement	acl
13	with	with	ADP	_	16 positions	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 positions	det
15	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	16 positions	amod
16	positions	position	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 consistent	obl
17	of	of	ADP	_	19 thinkers	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 thinkers	det
19	thinkers	thinker	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 positions	nmod
20	named	name	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	19 thinkers	acl
21	in	in	ADP	_	23 lesson	case
22	this	this	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	23 lesson	det
23	lesson	lesson	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 named	obl
24	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	which statement			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent statement=Topic
2	concern	gerund		the moral status of white lies			vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus status=Experiencer
3	is	present	concerning	which statement not said here		with the established positions of the thinkers; consistent property	tree rules
4	establish	participle					vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
5	name	participle		the thinkers not said here	this lesson		vn appoint-29.1 «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 · ✓ the right answer

Kant held all falsehood impermissible, whereas other thinkers have regarded minor kindly falsehoods as acceptable

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Kant	Kant	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 held	nsubj
2	held	hold	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	4 falsehood	det
4	falsehood	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 held	obj
5	impermissible	impermissible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 held	xcomp
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 regarded	punct
7	whereas	whereas	SCONJ	_	11 regarded	mark
8	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 thinkers	amod
9	thinkers	thinker	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 regarded	nsubj
10	have	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 regarded	aux
11	regarded	regard	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	2 held	advcl
12	minor	minor	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 regarded	xcomp
13	kindly	kindly	ADV	_	14 falsehoods	advmod
14	falsehoods	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 regarded	obl
15	as	as	ADP	_	16 acceptable	case
16	acceptable	acceptable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 regarded	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hold	past	Kant	all falsehood				impermissible property	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent falsehood=Theme
2	regard	present · perfect	other thinkers	falsehoods				as acceptable; minor property	vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP PP.value»: agent=Agent as acceptable=Value

Option 2

No philosopher has ever expressed an opinion concerning white lies

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	DET	PronType=Neg	2 philosopher	det
2	philosopher	philosopher	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 expressed	nsubj:pass
3	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 expressed	aux
4	ever	ever	ADV	PronType=Ind	5 expressed	advmod
5	expressed	express	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 opinion	det
7	opinion	opinion	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 expressed	obj
8	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 opinion	acl
9	white	white	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 lies	amod
10	lies	lie	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 concerning	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	express	present · perfect · passive		no philosopher			ever		vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Destination opinion=Theme
2	concern	gerund	a opinion not said here	white lies					vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus lie=Experiencer

Option 3

All philosophers unanimously regard white lies as the gravest of wrongs

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	All	all	DET	PronType=Tot	2 philosophers	det
2	philosophers	philosopher	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 regard	nsubj
3	unanimously	unanimously	ADV	_	4 regard	advmod
4	regard	regard	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	white	white	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 lies	amod
6	lies	lie	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 regard	obj
7	as	as	ADP	_	9 gravest	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 gravest	det
9	gravest	grave	ADJ	Degree=Sup	4 regard	conj
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 wrongs	case
11	wrongs	wrong	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 gravest	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	regard	present	all philosophers	white lies				unanimously property	vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lie=Theme

Option 4

All philosophers unanimously regard white lies as wholly permissible

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	All	all	DET	PronType=Tot	2 philosophers	det
2	philosophers	philosopher	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 regard	nsubj
3	unanimously	unanimously	ADV	_	4 regard	advmod
4	regard	regard	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	white	white	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 lies	amod
6	lies	lie	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 regard	obj
7	as	as	SCONJ	_	9 permissible	mark
8	wholly	wholly	ADV	_	9 permissible	advmod
9	permissible	permissible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 regard	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	regard	present	all philosophers	white lies				unanimously property	vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lie=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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