Exam question 3 · The football argument that goes in circles

Determine the most appropriate method of resolving a dispute as to whether a ball crossed the line when no party observed it clearly.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, appropriate method, party · What happens: determine, resolve, cross, observe · To what, where: appropriate method, dispute, ball

This is exam question 3 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	Determine	determine	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 method	det
3	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	4 appropriate	advmod
4	appropriate	appropriate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 method	amod
5	method	method	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Determine	obj
6	of	of	SCONJ	_	7 resolving	mark
7	resolving	resolve	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 method	acl
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 dispute	det
9	dispute	dispute	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 resolving	obj
10	as	as	ADP	ExtPos=ADP	17 line	case
11	to	to	ADP	_	10 as	fixed
12	whether	whether	SCONJ	_	17 line	mark
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 ball	det
14	ball	ball	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 line	nsubj
15	crossed	cross	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	17 line	amod
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 line	det
17	line	line	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 resolving	obl
18	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	21 observed	advmod
19	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	20 party	det
20	party	party	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 observed	nsubj
21	observed	observe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	1 Determine	advcl
22	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	21 observed	obj
23	clearly	clearly	ADV	_	21 observed	advmod
24	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Determine	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	determine	imperative	you not said here	the appropriate method		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent method=Topic
2	resolve	gerund	the appropriate method not said here	a dispute	as the crossed line	tree rules
3	cross	participle				vn contiguous_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
4	observe	past	no party	ball	clearly property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent it=Topic

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

Determination in favour of the elder party

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Determination	determination	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	in	in	ADP	_	3 favour	case
3	favour	favour	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Determination	nmod
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 party	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 party	det
6	elder	elder	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 party	amod
7	party	party	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 favour	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	favour			the elder party					nom favour «feeling transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

Indefinite continuation of the dispute until one party abandons the field

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Indefinite	indefinite	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 continuation	amod
2	continuation	continuation	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 abandons	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 dispute	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 dispute	det
5	dispute	dispute	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 continuation	nmod
6	until	until	ADP	_	8 party	case
7	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	8 party	nummod
8	party	party	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 continuation	nmod
9	abandons	abandon	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 field	det
11	field	field	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 abandons	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	abandon	present	Indefinite continuation of the dispute until one party	the field					vn leave-51.2 «NP V NP.initial_location»: agent=Theme field=Source
2	continue			the dispute			until one party		nom continuation «act transitive»: of=patient until=obl

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Agreement upon a fair procedure, such as a replay or a coin toss

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Agreement	agreement	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	upon	upon	ADP	_	5 procedure	case
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 procedure	det
4	fair	fair	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 procedure	amod
5	procedure	procedure	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Agreement	nmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 replay	punct
7	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	10 replay	case
8	as	as	ADP	_	7 such	fixed
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 replay	det
10	replay	replay	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Agreement	conj
11	or	or	CCONJ	_	14 toss	cc
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 toss	det
13	coin	coin	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 toss	compound
14	toss	toss	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Agreement	conj

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4

Determination in favour of the louder party

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Determination	determination	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	in	in	ADP	_	3 favour	case
3	favour	favour	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Determination	nmod
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 party	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 party	det
6	louder	loud	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	7 party	amod
7	party	party	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 favour	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	favour			the louder party					nom favour «feeling transitive»: of=patient

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/e3/