Exam question 4 · "I'm due a win": the gambler's fallacy

Which of the following most accurately characterises the principal means by which lotteries derive revenue?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: principal, lotteries · What happens: follow, characteris, mean, derive · To what, where: revenue · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 4 of lesson 171 «"I'm due a win": the gambler's fallacy» 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	7 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	SCONJ	_	7 characterises	mark
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 characterises	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 characterises	csubj
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	root	root
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 principal	det
9	principal	principal	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 means	nsubj
10	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 characterises	ccomp
11	by	by	ADP	_	12 which	case
12	which	which	DET	PronType=Int	13 lotteries	det
13	lotteries	lottery	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 derive	nsubj
14	derive	derive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 means	ccomp
15	revenue	revenue	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 derive	obj
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 characterises	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			accurately property	tree rules
3	mean	present	the principal			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
4	derive	present	which lotteries	revenue		vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location revenue=Theme

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

The draw is adjusted to favour regular players

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 draw	det
2	draw	draw	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 adjusted	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 adjusted	aux:pass
4	adjusted	adjust	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 favour	mark
6	favour	favour	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 adjusted	xcomp
7	regular	regular	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 players	amod
8	players	player	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 favour	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	adjust	present · passive		the draw					tree rules
2	favour	to-infinitive		regular players					tree rules

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

The government guarantees each player's return and recovers it through taxation

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 government	det
2	government	government	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 guarantees	nsubj
3	guarantees	guarantee	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	5 player	det
5	player	player	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 return	nmod:poss
6	's	's	PART	_	5 player	case
7	return	return	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 guarantees	obj
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 recovers	cc
9	recovers	recover	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 guarantees	conj
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 recovers	obj
11	through	through	ADP	_	12 taxation	case
12	taxation	taxation	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 recovers	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	guarantee	present	the government	each player's return		vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition return=Theme
2	recover	present	the government not said here	return	taxation	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme
3	return		each player			nom return «communication intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Players receive back, on average, less than they expend

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Players	player	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 receive	nsubj
2	receive	receive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	back	back	ADV	_	2 receive	advmod
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 average	punct
5	on	on	ADP	_	6 average	case
6	average	average	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 receive	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 less	punct
8	less	less	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	6 average	amod
9	than	than	SCONJ	_	11 expend	mark
10	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 expend	nsubj
11	expend	expend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 less	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	receive back	present	Players			average			vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent on average=Location
2	expend	present	Players = player						tree rules

Option 4

Players invariably recover their stake

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Players	player	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 recover	nsubj
2	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	3 recover	advmod
3	recover	recover	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 stake	nmod:poss
5	stake	stake	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 recover	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	recover	present	Players	Players's stake				invariably property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stake=Theme
2	stake		Players = player						nom stake «possession transitive»: poss=agent

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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