Exam question 3 · Reading the clock: hours, minutes and the two hands

Select the response that is consistent with the established facts concerning the expression "half four" as employed in Britain and Ireland.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, response, established facts · What happens: select, be, establish, concern, employ · To what, where: response, expression, Britain

This is exam question 3 of lesson 101 «Reading the clock: hours, minutes and the two hands» of the world 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 consistent	nsubj
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 consistent	cop
6	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 response	acl:relcl
7	with	with	ADP	_	10 facts	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 facts	det
9	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 facts	amod
10	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 consistent	obl
11	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 facts	acl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 expression	det
13	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 concerning	obj
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	16 four	punct
15	half	half	NOUN	Number=Sing NumForm=Word NumType=Frac	16 four	compound
16	four	four	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	13 expression	appos
17	"	"	PUNCT	_	16 four	punct
18	as	as	SCONJ	_	19 employed	mark
19	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 concerning	advcl
20	in	in	ADP	_	21 Britain	case
21	Britain	Britain	PROPN	Number=Sing	19 employed	obl
22	and	and	CCONJ	_	23 Ireland	cc
23	Ireland	Ireland	PROPN	Number=Sing	21 Britain	conj
24	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response			vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	is	present	the response			with the established facts; consistent property	tree rules
3	establish	participle					vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
4	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the expression			vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus expression=Experiencer
5	employ	participle	the established facts not said here		Britain and Ireland		vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

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

It denotes two o'clock precisely

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 denotes	nsubj
2	denotes	denote	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 o'clock	nummod
4	o'clock	o'clock	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 denotes	obj
5	precisely	precisely	ADV	_	2 denotes	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	denote	present	It	two o'clock				precisely property	vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot o'clock=Topic

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

It denotes thirty minutes past four o'clock

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 denotes	nsubj
2	denotes	denote	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	thirty	thirty	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 minutes	nummod
4	minutes	minute	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 denotes	obj
5	past	past	ADP	_	7 o'clock	case
6	four	four	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	7 o'clock	nummod
7	o'clock	o'clock	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 denotes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	denote	present	It				minute	past four o'clock	vn indicate-78 «NP V how S»: agent=Pivot

Option 3

It denotes thirty minutes past three o'clock

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 denotes	nsubj
2	denotes	denote	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	thirty	thirty	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 minutes	nummod
4	minutes	minute	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 denotes	obj
5	past	past	ADP	_	7 o'clock	case
6	three	three	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	7 o'clock	nummod
7	o'clock	o'clock	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 denotes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	denote	present	It				minute	past three o'clock	vn indicate-78 «NP V how S»: agent=Pivot

Option 4

It denotes fifteen minutes past four o'clock

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 denotes	nsubj
2	denotes	denote	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	fifteen	fifteen	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 minutes	nummod
4	minutes	minute	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 denotes	obj
5	past	past	ADP	_	7 o'clock	case
6	four	four	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	7 o'clock	nummod
7	o'clock	o'clock	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 denotes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	denote	present	It				minute	past four o'clock	vn indicate-78 «NP V how S»: agent=Pivot

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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