Exam question 3 · "Five more minutes" and other waiting games

Select the response that is consistent with the established facts concerning the expression "now now" in South African English.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, response, established facts · What happens: select, be, establish, concern · To what, where: response, South African English, expression

This is exam question 3 of lesson 109 «"Five more minutes" and other waiting games» 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	_	6 consistent	punct
15	now	now	ADV	PronType=Dem	16 now	advmod
16	now	now	ADV	PronType=Dem	1 Select	advmod
17	"	"	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct
18	in	in	ADP	_	21 English	case
19	South	South	PROPN	Number=Sing	21 English	compound
20	African	African	ADJ	Degree=Pos	21 English	amod
21	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obl
22	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	South African English	now		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

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 signifies "on the following day"

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 signifies	nsubj
2	signifies	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	"	"	PUNCT	_	2 signifies	punct
4	on	on	ADP	_	7 day	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 day	det
6	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 day	amod
7	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 signifies	obl
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	7 day	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signify	present	It				day		vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot
2	follow in a quote	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

It signifies "never"

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 signifies	nsubj
2	signifies	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	"	"	PUNCT	_	4 never	punct
4	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	2 signifies	advmod
5	"	"	PUNCT	_	2 signifies	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not signify	present	It						vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It signifies "soon", possibly after some while

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 signifies	nsubj
2	signifies	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	"	"	PUNCT	_	4 soon	punct
4	soon	soon	ADV	Degree=Pos	2 signifies	advmod
5	"	"	PUNCT	_	4 soon	punct
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 possibly	punct
7	possibly	possibly	ADV	_	2 signifies	advmod
8	after	after	ADP	_	10 while	case
9	some	some	DET	PronType=Ind	10 while	det
10	while	while	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 signifies	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signify	present	It				while	possibly, soon property	vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot

Option 4

It signifies "at this precise instant"

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 signifies	nsubj
2	signifies	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	"	"	PUNCT	_	7 instant	punct
4	at	at	ADP	_	7 instant	case
5	this	this	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	7 instant	det
6	precise	precise	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 instant	amod
7	instant	instant	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 signifies	ccomp
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	7 instant	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signify	present	It						vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: 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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