Exam question 2 · Decades, centuries and millennia

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the designation "the eighties", as employed in the phrase "a teenager in the eighties"?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, employ · To what, where: designation, phrase

This is exam question 2 of lesson 124 «Decades, centuries and millennia» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 designation	det
10	designation	designation	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 eighties	punct
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 eighties	det
13	eighties	eighties	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 designation	appos
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 eighties	punct
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 employed	punct
16	as	as	SCONJ	_	17 employed	mark
17	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 characterises	advcl
18	in	in	ADP	_	20 phrase	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 phrase	det
20	phrase	phrase	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 employed	obl
21	"	"	PUNCT	_	23 teenager	punct
22	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	23 teenager	det
23	teenager	teenager	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 phrase	appos
24	in	in	ADP	_	26 eighties	case
25	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	26 eighties	det
26	eighties	eighties	NOUN	Number=Plur	23 teenager	nmod
27	"	"	PUNCT	_	23 teenager	punct
28	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the designation		of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	employ	participle		the phrase		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

The decade comprising the years 1880 to 1889 inclusive

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 decade	det
2	decade	decade	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	comprising	comprise	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 decade	acl
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 years	det
5	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 comprising	obj
6	1880	1880	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	5 years	flat
7	to	to	ADP	_	8 1889	case
8	1889	1889	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	6 1880	nmod
9	inclusive	inclusive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 comprising	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	comprise	gerund	the decade not said here				year	inclusive property	vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

The century comprising the years 1800 to 1899 inclusive

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 century	det
2	century	century	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	comprising	comprise	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 century	acl
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 years	det
5	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 comprising	obj
6	1800	1800	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	5 years	flat
7	to	to	ADP	_	8 1899	case
8	1899	1899	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	6 1800	nmod
9	inclusive	inclusive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 comprising	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	comprise	gerund	the century not said here				year	inclusive property	vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The decade comprising the years 1980 to 1989 inclusive

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 decade	det
2	decade	decade	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	comprising	comprise	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 decade	acl
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 years	det
5	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 comprising	obj
6	1980	1980	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	5 years	nmod
7	to	to	ADP	_	8 1989	case
8	1989	1989	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	6 1980	nmod
9	inclusive	inclusive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 comprising	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	comprise	gerund	the decade not said here				year	inclusive property	vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme

Option 4

A period commencing eighty years before the present

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 period	det
2	period	period	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	commencing	commence	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 period	acl
4	eighty	eighty	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	5 years	nummod
5	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 commencing	obj
6	before	before	ADP	_	8 present	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 present	det
8	present	present	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 commencing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	commence	gerund	a period not said here				before the present; year		vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality

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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