Exam question 3 · The politician's either-or and the straw man

Select the response that is consistent with the established facts concerning the use of such rhetorical devices in political debate.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, response, established facts · What happens: select, be, establish, concern, use · To what, where: response, use, such rhetorical devices

This is exam question 3 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

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 consistent	nsubj
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 consistent	cop
6	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 response	acl:relcl
7	with	with	ADP	_	10 facts	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 facts	det
9	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 facts	amod
10	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 consistent	obl
11	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 facts	acl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 use	det
13	use	use	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 concerning	obj
14	of	of	ADP	_	17 devices	case
15	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 devices	amod
16	rhetorical	rhetorical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 devices	amod
17	devices	device	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 use	nmod
18	in	in	ADP	_	20 debate	case
19	political	political	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 debate	amod
20	debate	debate	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 devices	nmod
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response		vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	is	present	the response		with the established facts; consistent property	tree rules
3	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
4	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the use of such rhetorical devices in political debate		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus use=Experiencer
5	use			such rhetorical devices in political debate		nom use «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 right answer

They are employed by speakers on all sides

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 employed	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 employed	aux:pass
3	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 speakers	case
5	speakers	speaker	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 employed	obl
6	on	on	ADP	_	8 sides	case
7	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	8 sides	det
8	sides	side	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 employed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	employ	present · passive	speakers	They		all sides			vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme

Option 2

They are prohibited in all televised debates

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 prohibited	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 prohibited	aux:pass
3	prohibited	prohibit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	7 debates	case
5	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	7 debates	det
6	televised	televise	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 debates	amod
7	debates	debate	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 prohibited	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prohibit	present · passive		They		all televised debates			vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	televise	participle							vn transcribe-25.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 3

They are employed exclusively by governments

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 employed	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 employed	aux:pass
3	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	3 employed	advmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 governments	case
6	governments	government	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 employed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	employ	present · passive	governments	They				exclusively property	vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme

Option 4

They are employed exclusively by oppositions

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 employed	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 employed	aux:pass
3	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	3 employed	advmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 oppositions	case
6	oppositions	opposition	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 employed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	employ	present · passive	oppositions	They				exclusively property	vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent 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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man/e3/