Exam question 1 · Bets, dares and silly reasons

Identify the principal error in the claim that a child is able to hold his breath for five minutes because his cousin is able to do so.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, child, cousin · What happens: identify, be, hold, do · To what, where: principal error, claim, breath

This is exam question 1 of lesson 169 «Bets, dares and silly reasons» 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 error	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 error	amod
4	error	error	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 claim	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 claim	det
7	claim	claim	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obl
8	that	that	SCONJ	_	12 able	mark
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 child	det
10	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 able	nsubj
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 able	cop
12	able	able	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Identify	advcl
13	to	to	PART	_	14 hold	mark
14	hold	hold	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 able	xcomp
15	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	16 breath	nmod:poss
16	breath	breath	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 hold	obj
17	for	for	ADP	_	19 minutes	case
18	five	five	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	19 minutes	nummod
19	minutes	minute	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 hold	obl
20	because	because	SCONJ	_	24 able	mark
21	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	22 cousin	nmod:poss
22	cousin	cousin	NOUN	Number=Sing	24 able	nsubj
23	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	24 able	cop
24	able	able	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 hold	advcl
25	to	to	PART	_	26 do	mark
26	do	do	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	24 able	xcomp
27	so	so	ADV	_	26 do	advmod
28	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal error	the claim			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent error=Theme
2	is	present	a child				able property	tree rules
3	hold	to-infinitive	a child not said here	child's breath		minute		vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent breath=Theme
4	is	present	child's cousin				able property	tree rules
5	do	to-infinitive	child's cousin not said here					vn act-114-1 «NP V»: 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

Chocolate is an unsuitable stake

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Chocolate	chocolate	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 stake	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 stake	cop
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 stake	det
4	unsuitable	unsuitable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 stake	amod
5	stake	stake	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	Chocolate	a unsuitable stake					tree rules

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

An ability of one person is wrongly transferred to another

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 ability	det
2	ability	ability	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 transferred	nsubj:pass
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 person	case
4	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	5 person	nummod
5	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 ability	nmod
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 transferred	aux:pass
7	wrongly	wrongly	ADV	_	8 transferred	advmod
8	transferred	transfer	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
9	to	to	ADP	_	10 another	case
10	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	8 transferred	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	transfer	present · passive		a ability of one person	another			wrongly property	vn contribute-13.2-2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Theme to another=Recipient

Option 3

Five minutes is an insufficient duration

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Five	five	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	2 minutes	nummod
2	minutes	minute	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 duration	nmod:unmarked
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 duration	cop
4	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 duration	det
5	insufficient	insufficient	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 duration	amod
6	duration	duration	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present		a insufficient duration			minute		tree rules

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

The cousin is insufficiently related to the child

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 cousin	det
2	cousin	cousin	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 related	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 related	cop
4	insufficiently	insufficiently	ADV	_	5 related	advmod
5	related	related	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	to	to	ADP	_	8 child	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 child	det
8	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 related	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the cousin					to the child; insufficiently, related property	tree rules

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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