Exam question 4 · Adverts and "8 out of 10 cats"

Ascertain the significance of the words "sold separately" where they appear upon the packaging of a toy.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, words · What happens: ascertain, sell, appear, package · To what, where: significance, packaging, toy

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 significance	det
3	significance	significance	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 words	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 words	det
6	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 significance	nmod
7	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 sold	punct
8	sold	sell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 words	acl:relcl
9	separately	separately	ADV	_	8 sold	advmod
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 sold	punct
11	where	where	ADV	PronType=Rel	13 appear	advmod
12	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 appear	nsubj
13	appear	appear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 sold	advcl
14	upon	upon	ADP	_	16 packaging	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 packaging	det
16	packaging	packaging	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 appear	obl
17	of	of	ADP	_	19 toy	case
18	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	19 toy	det
19	toy	toy	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 packaging	nmod
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the significance of the words			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent significance=Topic
2	sell in a quote	past	the words not said here			separately property	vn give-13.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent
3	appear	present	words = word		the packaging of a toy		vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon packaging=Location
4	package			a toy			nom packaging «act 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 item is supplied free of charge in a separate package

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 item	det
2	item	item	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 supplied	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 supplied	aux:pass
4	supplied	supply	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	free	free	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 supplied	xcomp
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 charge	case
7	charge	charge	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 free	obl
8	in	in	ADP	_	11 package	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 package	det
10	separate	separate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 package	amod
11	package	package	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 supplied	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	supply	present · passive		the item		a separate package		free property	vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Recipient

Option 2

The item shall be dispatched by post without charge

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 item	det
2	item	item	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 dispatched	nsubj:pass
3	shall	shall	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 dispatched	aux
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 dispatched	aux:pass
5	dispatched	dispatch	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 post	case
7	post	post	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 dispatched	obl
8	without	without	ADP	_	9 charge	case
9	charge	charge	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 dispatched	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	dispatch	shall · passive	post	the item				without charge	vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient

Option 3

The item is contained within a sealed inner bag

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 item	det
2	item	item	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 contained	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 contained	aux:pass
4	contained	contain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	within	within	ADP	_	9 bag	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 bag	det
7	sealed	seal	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 bag	amod
8	inner	inner	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 bag	amod
9	bag	bag	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 contained	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	contain	present · passive		the item				within a sealed inner bag	vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	seal	participle							vn tape-22.4 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The item so described is not contained within the package

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 item	det
2	item	item	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 contained	nsubj:pass
3	so	so	ADV	_	4 described	advmod
4	described	describe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 item	acl
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 contained	aux:pass
6	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	7 contained	advmod
7	contained	contain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
8	within	within	ADP	_	10 package	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 package	det
10	package	package	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 contained	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	describe	participle		the item not said here					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent
2	not contain	present · passive		the item				within the package	vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

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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