Exam question 4 · Self-driving cars and machines that run themselves

Ascertain the consequence, in respect of employment, of the assumption by machines of repetitive tasks.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, respect · To what, where: consequence, employment

This is exam question 4 of lesson 40 «Self-driving cars and machines that run themselves» of the technology 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	3 consequence	det
3	consequence	consequence	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 respect	punct
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 respect	case
6	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	parataxis
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 employment	case
8	employment	employment	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 respect	nmod
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 assumption	punct
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 assumption	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 assumption	det
12	assumption	assumption	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obl
13	by	by	ADP	_	14 machines	case
14	machines	machine	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Ascertain	obl
15	of	of	ADP	_	17 tasks	case
16	repetitive	repetitive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 tasks	amod
17	tasks	task	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 machines	nmod
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the consequence				of the assumption; by machines of repetitive tasks	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent consequence=Topic
2	respect			employment					nom respect «cognition 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

All human employment ceases

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	All	all	DET	PronType=Tot	4 ceases	det
2	human	human	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 ceases	amod
3	employment	employment	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 ceases	compound
4	ceases	cease	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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

People continue to design, construct, repair and operate machines, and new occupations arise

The tree, 13 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	People	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 continue	nsubj
2	continue	continue	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	ADP	_	4 design	case
4	design	design	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 continue	obl
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 construct	punct
6	construct	construct	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 design	conj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 repair	punct
8	repair	repair	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 design	conj
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 operate	cc
10	operate	operate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 continue	conj
11	machines	machine	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 operate	obj
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 arise	punct
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 arise	cc
14	new	new	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 occupations	amod
15	occupations	occupation	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 arise	nsubj
16	arise	arise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 continue	parataxis

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	continue	present	People		design and construct and repair	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to design=Initial_Location
2	operate	infinitive	People not said here	machines		vn function-105.2.1-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Theme machine=Attribute
3	arise	present	new occupations			vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3

Remuneration is paid exclusively to robots

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Remuneration	remuneration	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 paid	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 paid	aux:pass
3	paid	pay	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	3 paid	advmod
5	to	to	ADP	_	6 robots	case
6	robots	robot	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 paid	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pay	present · passive		Remuneration				to robots; exclusively property	vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Asset

Option 4

Machines determine the allocation of employment

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Machines	machine	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 determine	nsubj
2	determine	determine	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 allocation	det
4	allocation	allocation	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 determine	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 employment	case
6	employment	employment	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 allocation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	determine	present	Machines	the allocation of employment					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent allocation=Topic
2	allocate			employment					nom allocation «possession transitive»: of=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/technology/40-self-driving-cars-and-machines-that-run-themselves/e4/