Exam question 4 · Screen time, wasted time, and putting it all together

Identify the meaning most accurately conveyed by the saying "time and tide wait for no man".

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, meaning · What happens: identify, convey, wait · To what, where: meaning · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 4 of lesson 130 «Screen time, wasted time, and putting it all together» 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	3 meaning	det
3	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 wait	nsubj
4	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	5 accurately	advmod
5	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	6 conveyed	advmod
6	conveyed	convey	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 meaning	acl
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 saying	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 saying	det
9	saying	saying	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 conveyed	obl
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	11 time	punct
11	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 saying	conj
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 tide	cc
13	tide	tide	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 saying	conj
14	wait	wait	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Identify	parataxis
15	for	for	ADP	_	17 man	case
16	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	17 man	det
17	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 wait	obl
18	"	"	PUNCT	_	14 wait	punct
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	convey	participle		the meaning not said here	by the saying and time and tide; accurately property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
3	wait in a quote	present	the meaning		for no man	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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 tides may be postponed at the request of sailors

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 tides	det
2	tides	tide	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 postponed	nsubj:pass
3	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 postponed	aux
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 postponed	aux:pass
5	postponed	postpone	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	at	at	ADP	_	8 request	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 request	det
8	request	request	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 postponed	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 sailors	case
10	sailors	sailor	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 request	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	postpone	may · passive		the tides		the request of sailors			vn delay-53.3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality
2	request			sailors					nom request «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Time proceeds irrespective of human readiness or delay

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 proceeds	nsubj
2	proceeds	proceed	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	irrespective	irrespective	ADV	_	2 proceeds	advmod
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 readiness	case
5	human	human	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 readiness	amod
6	readiness	readiness	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 proceeds	obl
7	or	or	CCONJ	_	8 delay	cc
8	delay	delay	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 readiness	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	proceed	present	Time					of human readiness or delay; irrespective property	vn begin-55.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent

Option 3

Time is measured exclusively by the tides

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 measured	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 measured	aux:pass
3	measured	measure	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	3 measured	advmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 tides	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 tides	det
7	tides	tide	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 measured	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	measure	present · passive	the tides	Time				exclusively property	vn register-54.1-2-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme subject=Value

Option 4

All persons must await the tide before acting

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	All	all	DET	PronType=Tot	2 persons	det
2	persons	person	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 await	nsubj
3	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 await	aux
4	await	await	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 tide	det
6	tide	tide	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 await	obj
7	before	before	SCONJ	_	8 acting	mark
8	acting	act	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 await	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	await	must	all persons	the tide					tree rules
2	act	gerund	all persons not said here						vn act-114-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/130-screen-time-and-putting-it-together/e4/