Exam question 4 · The brother who never does anything wrong: double standard…

Which of the following most accurately characterises the practice of designating every contrary example as "an exception"?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: practice · What happens: follow, characteris, designate · To what, where: practice, contrary example

This is exam question 4 of lesson 165 «The brother who never does anything wrong: double standards at home» 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	4 following	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 following	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 following	det
4	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	6 accurately	advmod
6	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	7 characterises	advmod
7	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 following	advcl
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 practice	det
9	practice	practice	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 characterises	obj
10	of	of	SCONJ	_	11 designating	mark
11	designating	designate	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	9 practice	acl
12	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	14 example	det
13	contrary	contrary	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 example	amod
14	example	example	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 designating	obj
15	as	as	ADP	_	18 exception	case
16	"	"	PUNCT	_	18 exception	punct
17	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	18 exception	det
18	exception	exception	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 designating	obl
19	"	"	PUNCT	_	18 exception	punct
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 following	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the practice	accurately property	tree rules
3	designate	gerund	the practice not said here	every contrary example	as a exception	vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent example=Theme as exception=Attribute

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

It is a fair method of counting

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 method	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 method	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 method	det
4	fair	fair	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 method	amod
5	method	method	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 counting	case
7	counting	counting	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 method	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a fair method				of counting	tree rules

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

It increases the accuracy of the rule with every new example

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 increases	nsubj
2	increases	increase	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 accuracy	det
4	accuracy	accuracy	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 increases	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 rule	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 rule	det
7	rule	rule	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 accuracy	nmod
8	with	with	ADP	_	11 example	case
9	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	11 example	det
10	new	new	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 example	amod
11	example	example	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 increases	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	increase	present	It	the accuracy of the rule				with every new example	vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer accuracy=Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It shields a rule from evidence that it is false

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 shields	nsubj
2	shields	shield	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 rule	det
4	rule	rule	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 shields	obj
5	from	from	ADP	_	6 evidence	case
6	evidence	evidence	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 shields	obl
7	that	that	SCONJ	_	10 false	mark
8	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 false	nsubj
9	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 false	cop
10	false	false	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 evidence	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	shield	present	It	a rule		evidence			tree rules
2	is	present	rule	evidence not said here				false property	tree rules

Option 4

It confirms the rule beyond doubt

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 confirms	nsubj
2	confirms	confirm	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 rule	det
4	rule	rule	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 confirms	obj
5	beyond	beyond	ADP	_	6 doubt	case
6	doubt	doubt	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 rule	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	confirm	present	It	the rule				beyond doubt	vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot rule=Topic

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/165-the-brother-who-never-does-anything-wrong-double-standards/e4/