Exam question 4 · "Five more minutes" and other waiting games

Identify the principal reason for which medical appointments frequently commence later than scheduled.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, medical appointments · What happens: identify, commence, schedule · To what, where: principal reason

This is exam question 4 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	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	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 commence	obl
7	medical	medical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 appointments	amod
8	appointments	appointment	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 commence	nsubj
9	frequently	frequently	ADV	_	10 commence	advmod
10	commence	commence	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl:relcl
11	later	late	ADV	Degree=Cmp	10 commence	advmod
12	than	than	SCONJ	_	13 scheduled	mark
13	scheduled	schedule	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 later	advcl
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	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	commence	present	medical appointments		for the principal reason; frequently, late property	vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
3	schedule	participle	medical appointments not said here			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

Physicians are obliged to commence one hour late

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Physicians	physician	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 obliged	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 obliged	aux:pass
3	obliged	oblige	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 commence	mark
5	commence	commence	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 obliged	xcomp
6	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	7 hour	nummod
7	hour	hour	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 commence	obj
8	late	late	ADV	Degree=Pos	5 commence	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	oblige	present · passive		Physicians					vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result
2	commence	to-infinitive					hour	late property	vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality

Option 2

The youngest patients are always seen first

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 patients	det
2	youngest	young	ADJ	Degree=Sup	3 patients	amod
3	patients	patient	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 seen	nsubj:pass
4	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 seen	aux:pass
5	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	6 seen	advmod
6	seen	see	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	6 seen	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	see	present · passive		the youngest patients				always, first property	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus

Option 3

Waiting rooms cause clocks to run slowly

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Waiting	wait	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 rooms	amod
2	rooms	room	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 cause	nsubj
3	cause	cause	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	clocks	clock	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 cause	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 run	mark
6	run	run	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 cause	xcomp
7	slowly	slowly	ADV	_	6 run	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	wait	gerund				vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	cause	present	Waiting rooms	clocks		tree rules
3	run	to-infinitive	clocks not said here		slowly property	vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Certain patients require more time than was planned

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Certain	certain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 patients	amod
2	patients	patient	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 require	nsubj
3	require	require	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	more	more	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	5 time	amod
5	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 require	obj
6	than	than	SCONJ	_	8 planned	mark
7	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 planned	aux:pass
8	planned	plan	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 require	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	require	present	Certain patients				time		vn require-103-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Theme
2	plan	past · passive	Certain patients not said here						vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»

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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