Exam question 1 · The football argument that goes in circles

Identify the principal defect in the argument that a player is superior "because he is the best".

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, player, he · What happens: identify, be · To what, where: principal defect, argument

This is exam question 1 of lesson 170 «The football argument that goes in circles» 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 defect	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 defect	amod
4	defect	defect	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 argument	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 argument	det
7	argument	argument	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obl
8	that	that	SCONJ	_	12 superior	mark
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 player	det
10	player	player	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 superior	nsubj
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 superior	cop
12	superior	superior	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 best	advcl
13	"	"	PUNCT	_	12 superior	punct
14	because	because	SCONJ	_	18 best	mark
15	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	18 best	nsubj
16	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	18 best	cop
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 best	det
18	best	good	ADJ	Degree=Sup	1 Identify	parataxis
19	"	"	PUNCT	_	18 best	punct
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal defect	the argument		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: agent=Agent defect=Theme clause=Attribute
2	is	present	a player			superior property	tree rules
3	is in a quote	present	he			good property	tree rules

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 · ✓ the right answer

The conclusion is restated in place of a reason

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 conclusion	det
2	conclusion	conclusion	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 restated	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 restated	aux:pass
4	restated	restate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 place	case
6	place	place	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 restated	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 reason	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 reason	det
9	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 place	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	restate	present · passive		the conclusion		place of a reason			tree rules

Option 2

The argument relies too heavily upon statistics such as goals and trophies

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 argument	det
2	argument	argument	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 relies	nsubj
3	relies	rely	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	too	too	ADV	_	5 heavily	advmod
5	heavily	heavily	ADV	_	3 relies	advmod
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 statistics	case
7	statistics	statistic	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 relies	obl
8	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	10 goals	case
9	as	as	ADP	_	8 such	fixed
10	goals	goal	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 statistics	nmod
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 trophies	cc
12	trophies	trophy	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 goals	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rely	present	the argument					upon statistics such goals and trophies; heavily property	vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S_ING»: agent=Agent

Option 3

The player's nationality is omitted

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 player	det
2	player	player	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 nationality	nmod:poss
3	's	's	PART	_	2 player	case
4	nationality	nationality	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 omitted	nsubj:pass
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 omitted	aux:pass
6	omitted	omit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	omit	present · passive		the player's nationality					vn exclude-107.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 4

The argument was made during a break

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 argument	det
2	argument	argument	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 made	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 made	aux:pass
4	made	make	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	during	during	ADP	_	7 break	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 break	det
7	break	break	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 made	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	make	past · passive		the argument			during a break		vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product

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/170-the-football-argument-that-goes-in-circles/e1/