Exam question 1 · Pretend, cover stories and lies that become habits

Which of the following most accurately characterises the findings of the 2016 University College London study concerning repeated self-serving falsehoods?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: 2016 University study · What happens: follow, characteris, concern, repeat, serve, find · To what, where: findings, repeated serving falsehoods, 2016 University study

This is exam question 1 of lesson 85 «Pretend, cover stories and lies that become habits» 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	7 characterises	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	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 findings	det
9	findings	finding	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 characterises	obj
10	of	of	ADP	_	16 study	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 study	det
12	2016	2016	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	16 study	nummod
13	University	University	PROPN	Number=Sing	16 study	compound
14	College	College	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 University	flat
15	London	London	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 University	flat
16	study	study	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 findings	nmod
17	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	16 study	acl
18	repeated	repeat	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	22 falsehoods	amod
19	self	self	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 serving	compound
20	-	-	PUNCT	_	19 self	punct
21	serving	serve	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	22 falsehoods	amod
22	falsehoods	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Plur	17 concerning	obj
23	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 following	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 findings of the 2016 University study	accurately property	tree rules
3	concern	gerund	the 2016 University study not said here	repeated serving falsehoods		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus falsehood=Experiencer
4	repeat	participle				vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
5	serve	gerund				vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent
6	find			the 2016 University study		nom finding «act transitive»: of=patient

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

The alarm response of the brain diminished with each repetition, and the falsehoods progressively increased in magnitude

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
2	alarm	alarm	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 response	compound
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 brain	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 brain	det
6	brain	brain	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 response	nmod
7	diminished	diminish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 brain	acl
8	with	with	ADP	_	10 repetition	case
9	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	10 repetition	det
10	repetition	repetition	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 diminished	obl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 increased	punct
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 increased	cc
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 falsehoods	det
14	falsehoods	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 increased	nsubj:pass
15	progressively	progressively	ADV	_	16 increased	advmod
16	increased	increase	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 response	acl
17	in	in	ADP	_	18 magnitude	case
18	magnitude	magnitude	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 increased	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	diminish	participle		the brain not said here				with each repetition	vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
2	increase	participle · passive	the alarm response of the brain not said here	the falsehoods		magnitude		progressively property	vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient

Option 2

Repeated falsehoods produced no measurable alteration in the brain

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Repeated	repeat	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 falsehoods	amod
2	falsehoods	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 produced	nsubj
3	produced	produce	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	6 alteration	det
5	measurable	measurable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 alteration	amod
6	alteration	alteration	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 produced	obj
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 brain	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 brain	det
9	brain	brain	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 produced	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	repeat	participle							vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
2	produce	past	Repeated falsehoods	no measurable alteration		the brain			vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent alteration=Result

Option 3

Repeated falsehoods were found to improve the participants' memory

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Repeated	repeat	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 falsehoods	amod
2	falsehoods	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 found	nsubj:pass
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 found	aux:pass
4	found	find	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 improve	mark
6	improve	improve	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 found	xcomp
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 participants	det
8	participants	participant	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 memory	nmod:poss
9	'	's	PART	_	8 participants	case
10	memory	memory	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 improve	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	repeat	participle			vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
2	find	past · passive		Repeated falsehoods	vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Attribute clause=Theme
3	improve	to-infinitive	Repeated falsehoods not said here	the participants's memory	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent memory=Patient

Option 4

The alarm response of the brain intensified with each repetition, and the falsehoods ceased

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
2	alarm	alarm	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 response	compound
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 brain	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 brain	det
6	brain	brain	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 response	nmod
7	intensified	intensify	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 brain	acl
8	with	with	ADP	_	10 repetition	case
9	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	10 repetition	det
10	repetition	repetition	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 intensified	obl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 falsehoods	punct
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 falsehoods	cc
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 falsehoods	det
14	falsehoods	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 response	conj
15	ceased	cease	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 falsehoods	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	intensify	participle		the brain not said here				with each repetition	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent with repetition=Instrument
2	cease	participle		the falsehoods not said here					vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality

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/85-pretend-cover-stories-and-lies-that-become-habits/e1/