Exam question 2 · "In the olden days": Grandad's 1990

Identify the principal reason for which a household telephone line could not be employed for calls during an internet session in the 1990s.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, not employ · To what, where: principal reason, telephone line

This is exam question 2 of lesson 126 «"In the olden days": Grandad's 1990» 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	14 employed	obl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 line	det
8	household	household	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 telephone	compound
9	telephone	telephone	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 line	compound
10	line	line	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 employed	nsubj:pass
11	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	14 employed	aux
12	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	14 employed	advmod
13	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	14 employed	aux:pass
14	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 reason	acl:relcl
15	for	for	ADP	_	16 calls	case
16	calls	call	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 employed	obl
17	during	during	ADP	_	20 session	case
18	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	20 session	det
19	internet	internet	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 session	compound
20	session	session	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 employed	obl
21	in	in	ADP	_	23 1990s	case
22	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	23 1990s	det
23	1990s	1990s	NOUN	Number=Ptan NumForm=Combi NumType=Card	20 session	nmod
24	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	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	not employ	could · passive		a telephone line			during a internet session in the 1990s	for the principal reason; for calls	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: subject=Theme for which=Eventuality

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

Telephone calls were prohibited by law during such sessions

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Telephone	telephone	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 calls	compound
2	calls	call	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 prohibited	nsubj:pass
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 prohibited	aux:pass
4	prohibited	prohibit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 law	case
6	law	law	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 prohibited	obl
7	during	during	ADP	_	9 sessions	case
8	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 sessions	amod
9	sessions	session	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 prohibited	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prohibit	past · passive	law	Telephone calls			during such sessions		vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer subject=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The connection to the internet occupied that same telephone line

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 connection	det
2	connection	connection	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 occupied	nsubj
3	to	to	ADP	_	5 internet	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 internet	det
5	internet	internet	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 connection	nmod
6	occupied	occupy	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	10 line	nsubj
8	same	same	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 line	amod
9	telephone	telephone	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 line	compound
10	line	line	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 occupied	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	occupy	past	the connection to the internet						vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer
2	line		that						tree rules

Option 3

Calls could be made only after midnight

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Calls	call	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 made	nsubj:pass
2	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 made	aux
3	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	4 made	aux:pass
4	made	make	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	only	only	ADV	_	7 midnight	advmod
6	after	after	ADP	_	7 midnight	case
7	midnight	midnight	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 made	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	make	could · passive		Calls			midnight		vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product

Option 4

The modem disabled all telephones within the district

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 modem	det
2	modem	modem	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 disabled	nsubj
3	disabled	disable	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	5 telephones	det
5	telephones	telephone	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 disabled	obj
6	within	within	ADP	_	8 district	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 district	det
8	district	district	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 disabled	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	disable	past	the modem	all telephones				within the district	vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent telephone=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.

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