Exam question 4 · Vows, oaths and promises in faith

Ascertain the most honest means of withdrawing from a promise that cannot be fulfilled.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, honest · What happens: ascertain, mean, withdraw, not fulfil · To what, where: promise

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 honest	det
3	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	4 honest	advmod
4	honest	honest	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 means	nsubj
5	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Ascertain	ccomp
6	of	of	SCONJ	_	7 withdrawing	mark
7	withdrawing	withdraw	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 means	advcl
8	from	from	ADP	_	10 promise	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 promise	det
10	promise	promise	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 withdrawing	obl
11	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	15 fulfilled	nsubj:pass
12	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	15 fulfilled	aux
13	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	15 fulfilled	advmod
14	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	15 fulfilled	aux:pass
15	fulfilled	fulfil	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 promise	acl:relcl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here			vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	mean	present	the honest			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
3	withdraw	gerund	the honest not said here		a promise	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from promise=Initial_Location
4	not fulfil	can · passive		a promise		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 fabrication of an illness on the appointed day

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 fabrication	det
2	fabrication	fabrication	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 illness	case
4	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 illness	det
5	illness	illness	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 fabrication	nmod
6	on	on	ADP	_	9 day	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 day	det
8	appointed	appoint	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 day	amod
9	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 illness	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	appoint	participle							vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	fabricate			a illness on the appointed day					nom fabrication «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

An early and truthful request for release, accompanied by an apology

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 request	det
2	early	early	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 request	amod
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	4 truthful	cc
4	truthful	truthful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 early	conj
5	request	request	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	for	for	ADP	_	7 release	case
7	release	release	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 request	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 accompanied	punct
9	accompanied	accompany	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 request	acl
10	by	by	ADP	_	12 apology	case
11	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 apology	det
12	apology	apology	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 accompanied	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	accompany	participle		a early request for release not said here				by a apology	vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent by apology=Destination

Option 3

The quiet transfer of the obligation to a third party who has not been told of it

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 transfer	det
2	quiet	quiet	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 transfer	amod
3	transfer	transfer	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 obligation	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 obligation	det
6	obligation	obligation	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 transfer	nmod
7	to	to	ADP	_	10 party	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 party	det
9	third	third	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	10 party	amod
10	party	party	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 obligation	nmod
11	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	15 told	nsubj
12	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 told	aux
13	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	15 told	advmod
14	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	15 told	aux:pass
15	told	tell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 party	acl:relcl
16	of	of	ADP	_	17 it	case
17	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 told	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not tell speech: assert	present · perfect · passive		a third party				of party	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient
2	transfer			the obligation to a third party					nom transfer «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

The silent failure to appear without explanation

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 failure	det
2	silent	silent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 failure	amod
3	failure	failure	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 appear	mark
5	appear	appear	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 failure	acl
6	without	without	ADP	_	7 explanation	case
7	explanation	explanation	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 appear	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	appear	to-infinitive						without explanation	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=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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