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Exam question 2 · The politician's either-or and the straw man

It is given that one politician proposed a modest reduction in military expenditure and that her opponent subsequently characterised the proposal as the abolition of all defence. Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the opponent's reply?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: one politician, opponent · What happens: give, propose, characteris, abolish, follow, reply · To what, where: It, modest reduction, military expenditure, proposal, defence, reply

This is exam question 2 of lesson 178 «The politician's either-or and the straw man» 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

Sentence 1: It is given that one politician proposed a modest reduction in military expenditure and that her opponent subsequently characterised the proposal as the abolition of all defence.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 given	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 given	aux:pass
3	given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 proposed	mark
5	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	6 politician	nummod
6	politician	politician	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 proposed	nsubj
7	proposed	propose	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 given	advcl
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 reduction	det
9	modest	modest	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 reduction	amod
10	reduction	reduction	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 proposed	obj
11	in	in	ADP	_	13 expenditure	case
12	military	military	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 expenditure	amod
13	expenditure	expenditure	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 reduction	nmod
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	19 characterised	cc
15	that	that	SCONJ	_	19 characterised	mark
16	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	17 opponent	nmod:poss
17	opponent	opponent	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 characterised	nsubj
18	subsequently	subsequently	ADV	_	19 characterised	advmod
19	characterised	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 proposed	conj
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 proposal	det
21	proposal	proposal	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 characterised	obj
22	as	as	ADP	_	24 abolition	case
23	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	24 abolition	det
24	abolition	abolition	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 characterised	obl
25	of	of	ADP	_	27 defence	case
26	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	27 defence	det
27	defence	defence	NOUN	Number=Sing	24 abolition	nmod
28	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 given	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	present · passive		It					vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	propose	past	one politician	a modest reduction		military expenditure			vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reduction=Theme
3	characteris	past	politician's opponent	the proposal				as the abolition of all defence; subsequently property	tree rules
4	abolish			all defence					nom abolition «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.

Sentence 2: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the opponent's reply?

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 opponent	det
10	opponent	opponent	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 reply	nmod:poss
11	's	's	PART	_	10 opponent	case
12	reply	reply	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the opponent's reply				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	reply		the opponent						nom reply «communication transitive»: poss=agent

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

It is an appeal to the popularity of the proposal

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 appeal	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 appeal	cop
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 appeal	det
4	appeal	appeal	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 popularity	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 popularity	det
7	popularity	popularity	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 appeal	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 proposal	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 proposal	det
10	proposal	proposal	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 popularity	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a appeal				to the popularity of the proposal	tree rules

Option 2

It restates the proposal accurately before disagreeing

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 restates	nsubj
2	restates	restate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 proposal	det
4	proposal	proposal	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 restates	obj
5	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	2 restates	advmod
6	before	before	SCONJ	_	7 disagreeing	mark
7	disagreeing	disagree	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 restates	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	restate	present	It	the proposal				accurately property	tree rules
2	disagree	gerund							vn correspond-36.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

It is a legitimate inference from the proposal

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 inference	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 inference	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 inference	det
4	legitimate	legitimate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 inference	amod
5	inference	inference	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	from	from	ADP	_	8 proposal	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 proposal	det
8	proposal	proposal	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 inference	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a legitimate inference		the proposal			tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It attacks a distorted version of the proposal rather than the proposal itself

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 attacks	nsubj
2	attacks	attack	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 version	det
4	distorted	distort	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 version	amod
5	version	version	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 attacks	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 proposal	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 proposal	det
8	proposal	proposal	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 version	nmod
9	rather	rather	ADV	ExtPos=CCONJ	12 proposal	cc
10	than	than	ADP	_	9 rather	fixed
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 proposal	det
12	proposal	proposal	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 proposal	conj
13	itself	itself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Emp Reflex=Yes	12 proposal	nmod:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	attack	present	It	a distorted version of the proposal rather the proposal version					vn attack-60.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent version=Patient
2	distort	participle							vn knead-26.5 «NP.material V PP.product»: agent=Material

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/178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man/e2/