Exam question 1 · Loot boxes, streaks and the sunk cost

Identify the principal misconception in the expectation that one hundred boxes, each offering a one-in-one-hundred chance, must yield one prize.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, hundred boxes · What happens: identify, offer, yield · To what, where: principal misconception, expectation, one one chance, one prize

This is exam question 1 of lesson 172 «Loot boxes, streaks and the sunk cost» 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 misconception	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 misconception	amod
4	misconception	misconception	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 expectation	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 expectation	det
7	expectation	expectation	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obl
8	that	that	SCONJ	_	14 offering	mark
9	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	10 hundred	compound
10	hundred	hundred	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	11 boxes	nummod
11	boxes	box	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 offering	nsubj
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 offering	punct
13	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	14 offering	nsubj
14	offering	offer	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	26 yield	advcl
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	23 chance	det
16	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	23 chance	nummod
17	-	-	PUNCT	_	23 chance	punct
18	in	in	ADP	_	23 chance	case
19	-	-	PUNCT	_	18 in	punct
20	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	23 chance	nummod
21	-	-	PUNCT	_	22 hundred	punct
22	hundred	hundred	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	20 one	conj
23	chance	chance	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 offering	obj
24	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 offering	punct
25	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	26 yield	aux
26	yield	yield	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	1 Identify	parataxis
27	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	28 prize	nummod
28	prize	prize	NOUN	Number=Sing	26 yield	obj
29	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal misconception	the expectation	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent misconception=Theme
2	offer	gerund	hundred boxes	a one one chance		vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent chance=Theme
3	yield	must		one prize		vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent prize=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 · ← Mova's choice

The boxes were opened at the wrong hour

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 boxes	det
2	boxes	box	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 opened	nsubj:pass
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 opened	aux:pass
4	opened	open	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	at	at	ADP	_	8 hour	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 hour	det
7	wrong	wrong	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 hour	amod
8	hour	hour	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 opened	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	open	past · passive		the boxes			hour		vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 2

The prize was incorrectly described

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 prize	det
2	prize	prize	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 described	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 described	aux:pass
4	incorrectly	incorrectly	ADV	_	5 described	advmod
5	described	describe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	describe	past · passive		the prize				incorrectly property	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: subject=Theme

Option 3

The number of boxes was insufficiently large

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 number	det
2	number	number	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 large	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 boxes	case
4	boxes	box	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 number	nmod
5	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 large	cop
6	insufficiently	insufficiently	ADV	_	7 large	advmod
7	large	large	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	the number of boxes					insufficiently, large property	tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

A probability is mistaken for a guarantee

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 probability	det
2	probability	probability	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 mistaken	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 mistaken	aux:pass
4	mistaken	mistake	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	for	for	ADP	_	7 guarantee	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 guarantee	det
7	guarantee	guarantee	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 mistaken	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mistake	present · passive		a probability				for a guarantee	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/172-loot-boxes-streaks-and-the-sunk-cost/e1/