Exam question 1 · Adverts and "8 out of 10 cats"

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the assertion "eight out of ten cats prefer it", where the small print discloses a sample of ten cats?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: ten cats, small print · What happens: follow, characteris, prefer, disclose, sample · To what, where: assertion, sample, ten cats

This is exam question 1 of lesson 176 «Adverts and "8 out of 10 cats"» 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	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 assertion	det
10	assertion	assertion	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	"	"	PUNCT	_	12 eight	punct
12	eight	eight	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	10 assertion	appos
13	out	out	ADP	_	17 prefer	mark
14	of	of	ADP	_	16 cats	case
15	ten	ten	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	16 cats	nummod
16	cats	cat	NOUN	Number=Plur	17 prefer	nsubj
17	prefer	prefer	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 eight	advcl
18	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	17 prefer	obj
19	"	"	PUNCT	_	12 eight	punct
20	,	,	PUNCT	_	25 discloses	punct
21	where	where	ADV	PronType=Rel	25 discloses	advmod
22	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	24 print	det
23	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	24 print	amod
24	print	print	NOUN	Number=Sing	25 discloses	nsubj
25	discloses	disclose	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 assertion	acl:relcl
26	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	27 sample	det
27	sample	sample	NOUN	Number=Sing	25 discloses	obj
28	of	of	ADP	_	30 cats	case
29	ten	ten	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	30 cats	nummod
30	cats	cat	NOUN	Number=Plur	27 sample	nmod
31	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 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		the assertion	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	prefer in a quote	present	ten cats	assertion		vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus
4	disclose	present	the small print	a sample of ten cats		vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot sample=Topic
5	sample			ten cats		nom sample «cognition transitive»: of=patient

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 sample is too small for any general conclusion

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 sample	det
2	sample	sample	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 small	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 small	cop
4	too	too	ADV	_	5 small	advmod
5	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	for	for	ADP	_	9 conclusion	case
7	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	9 conclusion	det
8	general	general	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 conclusion	amod
9	conclusion	conclusion	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 small	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the sample					for any general conclusion; small property	tree rules

Option 2

The assertion is proven for all domestic cats everywhere

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 assertion	det
2	assertion	assertion	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 proven	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 proven	aux:pass
4	proven	prove	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	for	for	ADP	_	8 cats	case
6	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	8 cats	det
7	domestic	domestic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 cats	amod
8	cats	cat	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 proven	obl
9	everywhere	everywhere	ADV	PronType=Tot	4 proven	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prove	present · passive		the assertion				for all domestic cats; everywhere property	vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 3

The assertion does not depend upon the number of cats tested

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 assertion	det
2	assertion	assertion	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 depend	nsubj
3	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 depend	aux
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 depend	advmod
5	depend	depend	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	8 number	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 number	det
8	number	number	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 depend	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 cats	case
10	cats	cat	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 number	nmod
11	tested	test	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 cats	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not depend	present · do-support	the assertion					upon the number of cats	vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S_ING»: agent=Agent
2	test	participle		cats not said here					vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 4

The proportion is too low to be reported in an advertisement

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 proportion	det
2	proportion	proportion	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 low	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 low	cop
4	too	too	ADV	_	5 low	advmod
5	low	low	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	to	to	PART	_	8 reported	mark
7	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	8 reported	aux:pass
8	reported	report	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 low	advcl
9	in	in	ADP	_	11 advertisement	case
10	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 advertisement	det
11	advertisement	advertisement	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 reported	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the proportion					low property	tree rules
2	report	to-infinitive · passive	the proportion not said here			a advertisement			vn characterize-29.2-1-2 «NP V NP»

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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