Exam question 4 · The football argument that goes in circles

Which of the following most accurately characterises a protracted dispute as to whether a hot dog is a sandwich?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: hot dog · What happens: follow, characteris, protract, be · To what, where: protracted dispute

This is exam question 4 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	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	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 dispute	det
9	protracted	protract	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 dispute	amod
10	dispute	dispute	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 characterises	obj
11	as	as	ADP	ExtPos=ADP	19 sandwich	case
12	to	to	ADP	_	11 as	fixed
13	whether	whether	SCONJ	_	19 sandwich	mark
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 dog	det
15	hot	hot	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 dog	amod
16	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 sandwich	nsubj
17	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	19 sandwich	cop
18	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	19 sandwich	det
19	sandwich	sandwich	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 dispute	nmod
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		a protracted dispute	accurately property	tree rules
3	protract	participle				vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent
4	is	present	a hot dog		as a sandwich	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

A matter of established law

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 matter	det
2	matter	matter	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 law	case
4	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 law	amod
5	law	law	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 matter	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	establish	participle							vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
2	matter		established law						nom matter «cognition intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

A case of collective punishment

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 case	det
2	case	case	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 punishment	case
4	collective	collective	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 punishment	amod
5	punishment	punishment	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 case	nmod

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

Option 3

A question to be settled by scientific measurement of the bread

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 question	det
2	question	question	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	5 settled	mark
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 settled	aux:pass
5	settled	settle	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 question	acl
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 measurement	case
7	scientific	scientific	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 measurement	amod
8	measurement	measurement	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 settled	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 bread	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 bread	det
11	bread	bread	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 measurement	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	settle	to-infinitive · passive	scientific measurement of the bread						vn correspond-36.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	measure			the bread					nom measurement «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

A verbal dispute arising from an undefined term

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 dispute	det
2	verbal	verbal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 dispute	amod
3	dispute	dispute	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	arising	arise	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 dispute	acl
5	from	from	ADP	_	8 term	case
6	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 term	det
7	undefined	undefin	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 term	amod
8	term	term	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 arising	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	arise	gerund	a verbal dispute not said here			a undefined term			vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	undefin	participle							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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/170-the-football-argument-that-goes-in-circles/e4/