Exam question 4 · The politician's either-or and the straw man

Ascertain the principal deficiency of the argument that a plan for schools is erroneous because its author was discourteous to a waiter a decade previously.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, plan, author · What happens: ascertain, be · To what, where: principal deficiency, argument

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 deficiency	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 deficiency	amod
4	deficiency	deficiency	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 argument	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 argument	det
7	argument	argument	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 deficiency	nmod
8	that	that	SCONJ	_	14 erroneous	mark
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 plan	det
10	plan	plan	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 erroneous	nsubj
11	for	for	ADP	_	12 schools	case
12	schools	school	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 plan	nmod
13	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 erroneous	cop
14	erroneous	erroneous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 argument	acl
15	because	because	SCONJ	_	19 discourteous	mark
16	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	17 author	nmod:poss
17	author	author	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 discourteous	nsubj
18	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	19 discourteous	cop
19	discourteous	discourteous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Ascertain	parataxis
20	to	to	ADP	_	22 waiter	case
21	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	22 waiter	det
22	waiter	waiter	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 discourteous	obl
23	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	24 decade	det
24	decade	decade	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 discourteous	advmod
25	previously	previously	ADV	_	1 Ascertain	advmod
26	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the principal deficiency of the argument	previously property	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent deficiency=Topic
2	is	present	a plan for schools	the argument not said here	erroneous property	tree rules
3	is	past	plan's author		to a waiter; discourteous property	tree rules

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 author's conduct does not establish whether the plan would succeed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 author	det
2	author	author	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 conduct	nmod:poss
3	's	's	PART	_	2 author	case
4	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 establish	nsubj
5	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 establish	aux
6	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	7 establish	advmod
7	establish	establish	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
8	whether	whether	SCONJ	_	12 succeed	mark
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 plan	det
10	plan	plan	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 succeed	nsubj
11	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	12 succeed	aux
12	succeed	succeed	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 establish	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	roles by
1	not establish	present · do-support	the author's conduct	vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
2	succeed	would	the plan	vn succeed-74-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	conduct		the author	nom conduct «act transitive»: poss=agent

Option 2

The plan was not concerned with schools

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 plan	det
2	plan	plan	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 concerned	nsubj
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 concerned	cop
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 concerned	advmod
5	concerned	concerned	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	with	with	ADP	_	7 schools	case
7	schools	school	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 concerned	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not is	past	the plan					with schools; concerned property	tree rules

Option 3

The incident occurred too recently to be relevant

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 incident	det
2	incident	incident	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 occurred	nsubj
3	occurred	occur	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	too	too	ADV	_	5 recently	advmod
5	recently	recently	ADV	_	3 occurred	advmod
6	to	to	PART	_	8 relevant	mark
7	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	8 relevant	cop
8	relevant	relevant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 occurred	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	occur	past	the incident					recently property	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	is	to-infinitive	the incident not said here					relevant property	tree rules

Option 4

Discourtesy to waiters invariably indicates a defective plan

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Discourtesy	discourtesy	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 indicates	nsubj
2	to	to	ADP	_	3 waiters	case
3	waiters	waiter	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Discourtesy	nmod
4	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	5 indicates	advmod
5	indicates	indicate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 plan	det
7	defective	defective	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 plan	amod
8	plan	plan	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 indicates	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	indicate	present	Discourtesy to waiters	a defective plan				invariably property	vn indicate-78-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot plan=Topic

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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