Exam question 3 · Lucky socks and Grandma's superstitions
Determine which procedure would constitute a fair test of whether a charm confers good fortune.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, procedure, fair test · What happens: determine, constitute, confer, test · To what, where: good fortune, charm
This is exam question 3 of lesson 161 «Lucky socks and Grandma's superstitions» 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 | Determine | determine | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | which | which | DET | PronType=Int | 3 procedure | det |
| 3 | procedure | procedure | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 constitute | nsubj |
| 4 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 5 constitute | aux |
| 5 | constitute | constitute | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 1 Determine | ccomp |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 test | det |
| 7 | fair | fair | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 test | amod |
| 8 | test | test | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 confers | nsubj |
| 9 | of | of | ADP | _ | 12 charm | case |
| 10 | whether | whether | SCONJ | _ | 12 charm | mark |
| 11 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 12 charm | det |
| 12 | charm | charm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 test | nmod |
| 13 | confers | confer | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 constitute | ccomp |
| 14 | good | good | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 15 fortune | amod |
| 15 | fortune | fortune | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 confers | obj |
| 16 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 Determine | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | determine | imperative | you not said here | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 2 | constitute | would | which procedure | tree rules | |||||
| 3 | confer | present | a fair test of a charm | good fortune | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | test | a charm | nom test «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
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
A single trial conducted in the presence of the charm
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 trial | det |
| 2 | single | single | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 trial | amod |
| 3 | trial | trial | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 4 | conducted | conduct | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 trial | acl |
| 5 | in | in | ADP | _ | 7 presence | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 presence | det |
| 7 | presence | presence | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 conducted | obl |
| 8 | of | of | ADP | _ | 10 charm | case |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 charm | det |
| 10 | charm | charm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 presence | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | conduct | participle | a single trial not said here | the presence of the charm | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in presence=Destination |
Option 2
An enquiry into the age and origin of the charm
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | An | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 enquiry | det |
| 2 | enquiry | enquiry | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | into | into | ADP | _ | 5 age | case |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 age | det |
| 5 | age | age | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 enquiry | nmod |
| 6 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 7 origin | cc |
| 7 | origin | origin | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 age | conj |
| 8 | of | of | ADP | _ | 10 charm | case |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 charm | det |
| 10 | charm | charm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 origin | nmod |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 3 · ✓ the right answer
A count of outcomes with and without the charm over many occasions
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 count | det |
| 2 | count | count | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 4 outcomes | case |
| 4 | outcomes | outcome | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 count | nmod |
| 5 | with | with | ADP | _ | 9 charm | case |
| 6 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 7 without | cc |
| 7 | without | without | ADP | _ | 5 with | conj |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 charm | det |
| 9 | charm | charm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 count | nmod |
| 10 | over | over | ADP | _ | 12 occasions | case |
| 11 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 12 occasions | amod |
| 12 | occasions | occasion | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 count | nmod |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 4
The sworn testimony of the owner of the charm
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 testimony | det |
| 2 | sworn | swear | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 testimony | amod |
| 3 | testimony | testimony | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 4 | of | of | ADP | _ | 6 owner | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 owner | det |
| 6 | owner | owner | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 testimony | nmod |
| 7 | of | of | ADP | _ | 9 charm | case |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 charm | det |
| 9 | charm | charm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 owner | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | swear | participle | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 2 | testify | the owner of the charm | nom testimony «communication intransitive»: of=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/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/e3/