Exam question 1 · Keeping promises

Which of the following most accurately characterises the moral status of a promise as set forth in this lesson?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris, set · To what, where: moral status, promise, lesson

This is exam question 1 of lesson 86 «Keeping promises» 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	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 status	det
9	moral	moral	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 status	amod
10	status	status	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 promise	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 promise	det
13	promise	promise	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 status	nmod
14	as	as	SCONJ	_	15 set	mark
15	set	set	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 promise	acl
16	forth	forth	ADV	_	15 set	advmod
17	in	in	ADP	_	19 lesson	case
18	this	this	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	19 lesson	det
19	lesson	lesson	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 set	obl
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 following	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the moral status of a promise		accurately property	tree rules
3	set	participle	a promise not said here	this lesson	forth property	vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in lesson=Destination

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

A promise may be set aside whenever a more agreeable alternative arises

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 promise	det
2	promise	promise	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 set	nsubj:pass
3	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 set	aux
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 set	aux:pass
5	set	set	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	aside	aside	ADV	_	5 set	advmod
7	whenever	whenever	SCONJ	_	12 arises	mark
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 alternative	det
9	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	10 agreeable	advmod
10	agreeable	agreeable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 alternative	amod
11	alternative	alternative	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 arises	nsubj
12	arises	arise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 set	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	set	may · passive		a promise				aside property	vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Result
2	arise	present	a agreeable alternative						vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

A promise establishes a genuine duty, defeasible only by a weightier duty

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 promise	det
2	promise	promise	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 establishes	nsubj
3	establishes	establish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 duty	det
5	genuine	genuine	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 duty	amod
6	duty	duty	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 establishes	obj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 defeasible	punct
8	defeasible	defeasible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 duty	amod
9	only	only	ADV	_	13 duty	advmod
10	by	by	ADP	_	13 duty	case
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 duty	det
12	weightier	weighty	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	13 duty	amod
13	duty	duty	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 establishes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	establish	present	a promise	a genuine duty				by a weightier duty	vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent duty=Patient

Option 3

A promise establishes no duty whatsoever unless recorded in writing

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 promise	det
2	promise	promise	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 establishes	nsubj
3	establishes	establish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	5 duty	det
5	duty	duty	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 establishes	obj
6	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	3 establishes	advmod
7	unless	unless	SCONJ	_	8 recorded	mark
8	recorded	record	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 establishes	advcl
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 writing	case
10	writing	writing	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 recorded	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	establish	present	a promise	no duty				whatsoever property	vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent duty=Patient
2	record a condition, not said to happen	participle	a promise not said here			writing			vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in writing=Destination

Option 4

A promise binds the promisee but not the promisor

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 promise	det
2	promise	promise	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 binds	nsubj
3	binds	bind	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 promisee	det
5	promisee	promisee	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 binds	obj
6	but	but	CCONJ	_	9 promisor	cc
7	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	9 promisor	advmod
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 promisor	det
9	promisor	promisor	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 promisee	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bind	present	a promise	the promisee but the promisor					vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent promisee=Patient

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/86-keeping-promises/e1/