Exam question 1 · Sounds wrong, but is right
It is given that a fence of ten metres in length is to be constructed with a post at every metre, inclusive of both ends. Determine the number of posts required.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: give, construct, determine, require · To what, where: It, fence, number, posts
This is exam question 1 of lesson 182 «Sounds wrong, but is right» 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 a fence of ten metres in length is to be constructed with a post at every metre, inclusive of both ends.
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 | _ | 15 constructed | mark |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 fence | det |
| 6 | fence | fence | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 constructed | nsubj:pass |
| 7 | of | of | ADP | _ | 9 metres | case |
| 8 | ten | ten | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 9 metres | nummod |
| 9 | metres | metre | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 fence | nmod |
| 10 | in | in | ADP | _ | 11 length | case |
| 11 | length | length | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 metres | nmod |
| 12 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 15 constructed | aux |
| 13 | to | to | PART | _ | 15 constructed | mark |
| 14 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 15 constructed | aux:pass |
| 15 | constructed | construct | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 given | advcl |
| 16 | with | with | ADP | _ | 18 post | case |
| 17 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 18 post | det |
| 18 | post | post | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 constructed | obl |
| 19 | at | at | ADP | _ | 21 metre | case |
| 20 | every | every | DET | PronType=Tot | 21 metre | det |
| 21 | metre | metre | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 post | nmod |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 inclusive | punct |
| 23 | inclusive | inclusive | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 21 metre | amod |
| 24 | of | of | ADP | _ | 26 ends | case |
| 25 | both | both | DET | PronType=Tot | 26 ends | det |
| 26 | ends | end | NOUN | Number=Plur | 23 inclusive | obl |
| 27 | . | . | 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 | construct | present · passive | a fence of ten metres in length | with a post at every metre | vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: subject=Patient with post=Instrument |
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: Determine the number of posts required.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Determine | determine | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 number | det |
| 3 | number | number | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Determine | obj |
| 4 | of | of | ADP | _ | 5 posts | case |
| 5 | posts | post | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 number | nmod |
| 6 | required | require | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 5 posts | acl |
| 7 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 Determine | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | determine | imperative | you not said here | the number of posts | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent number=Topic | ||||
| 2 | require | participle | posts not said here | vn require-103-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Theme |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
Ten
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ten | ten | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 2
Twenty
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Twenty | twenty | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 3 · ✓ the right answer
Eleven
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eleven | eleven | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 4
Nine
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nine | nine | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
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/182-sounds-wrong-but-is-right/e1/