Exam question 2 · Vows, oaths and promises in faith

Identify the principal reason for which members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) decline to swear oaths.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, members · What happens: identify, decline, swear · To what, where: principal reason, oaths

This is exam question 2 of lesson 88 «Vows, oaths and promises in faith» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	DET	PronType=Int	7 members	det
7	members	member	NOUN	Number=Plur	17 decline	nsubj
8	of	of	ADP	_	11 Society	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 Society	det
10	Religious	Religious	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 Society	compound
11	Society	Society	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 members	nmod
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 Friends	case
13	Friends	Friend	PROPN	Number=Plur	11 Society	nmod
14	(	(	PUNCT	_	15 Quakers	punct
15	Quakers	Quaker	PROPN	Number=Plur	13 Friends	conj
16	)	)	PUNCT	_	13 Friends	punct
17	decline	decline	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 reason	nmod
18	to	to	PART	_	19 swear	mark
19	swear	swear	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	17 decline	acl
20	oaths	oath	NOUN	Number=Plur	19 swear	obj
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	decline		which members of the Religious Society of Friends and Quakers		tree rules
3	swear	to-infinitive	you not said here	oaths	vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent oath=Eventuality

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 · ✓ the right answer

Their literal adherence to the teaching of Matthew 5:34-37 that a simple "Yes" or "No" suffices

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 adherence	nmod:poss
2	literal	literal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 adherence	amod
3	adherence	adherence	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 suffices	nsubj
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 teaching	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 teaching	det
6	teaching	teaching	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 adherence	nmod
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 Matthew	case
8	Matthew	Matthew	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 teaching	nmod
9	5:34-37	5:34-37	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	8 Matthew	nmod
10	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 simple	nsubj
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 simple	det
12	simple	simple	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 teaching	conj
13	"	"	PUNCT	_	14 Yes	punct
14	Yes	yes	INTJ	Polarity=Pos	12 simple	discourse
15	"	"	PUNCT	_	14 Yes	punct
16	or	or	CCONJ	_	18 No	cc
17	"	"	PUNCT	_	18 No	punct
18	No	no	INTJ	Polarity=Neg	14 Yes	conj
19	"	"	PUNCT	_	14 Yes	punct
20	suffices	suffice	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	suffice	present	Their literal adherence to the teaching of Matthew 5:34-37						tree rules
2	teach			Matthew 5:34-37					nom teaching «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

Their conviction that courts possess no lawful authority

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 conviction	nmod:poss
2	conviction	conviction	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 possess	obj
4	courts	court	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 possess	nsubj
5	possess	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 conviction	acl:relcl
6	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	8 authority	det
7	lawful	lawful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 authority	amod
8	authority	authority	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 possess	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	present	courts	Their conviction					tree rules
2	convict		Their = they						nom conviction «cognition transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3

Their preference for swearing upon an alternative text

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 preference	nmod:poss
2	preference	preference	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	for	for	SCONJ	_	4 swearing	mark
4	swearing	swear	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 preference	acl
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	8 text	case
6	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 text	det
7	alternative	alternative	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 text	amod
8	text	text	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 swearing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	swear	gerund	Their preference not said here					upon a alternative text	vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	prefer		Their = they						nom preference «feeling transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

Their exemption from the obligation to tell the truth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 exemption	nmod:poss
2	exemption	exemption	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 tell	nsubj
3	from	from	ADP	_	5 obligation	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 obligation	det
5	obligation	obligation	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 exemption	nmod
6	to	to	PART	_	7 tell	mark
7	tell	tell	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 truth	det
9	truth	truth	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 tell	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tell speech: assert	to-infinitive	Their exemption from the obligation	the truth					vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent truth=Recipient
2	exempt		Their = they			the obligation			nom exemption «state transitive»: poss=agent from=place

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/88-vows-oaths-and-promises-in-faith/e2/