Exam question 2 · "If... then..." and its traps

Identify the conclusion which validly follows from the premise that every square possesses four sides, given a figure possessing three sides.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, conclusion, square, four sides, figure · What happens: identify, follow, possess, give · To what, where: conclusion, premise, figure, three sides

This is exam question 2 of lesson 184 «"If... then..." and its traps» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 conclusion	det
3	conclusion	conclusion	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 follows	nsubj
5	validly	validly	ADV	_	6 follows	advmod
6	follows	follow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 conclusion	acl:relcl
7	from	from	ADP	_	9 premise	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 premise	det
9	premise	premise	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 follows	obl
10	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 possesses	obj
11	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	12 square	det
12	square	square	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 possesses	nsubj
13	possesses	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 premise	acl:relcl
14	four	four	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	15 sides	nummod
15	sides	side	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 possesses	obj
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 given	punct
17	given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	15 sides	acl
18	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	19 figure	det
19	figure	figure	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 given	obj
20	possessing	possess	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	19 figure	acl
21	three	three	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	22 sides	nummod
22	sides	side	NOUN	Number=Plur	20 possessing	obj
23	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the conclusion			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent conclusion=Theme
2	follow	present	the conclusion		the premise	validly property	vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent from premise=Trajectory
3	possess	present	every square	the premise			tree rules
4	give	participle	four sides not said here	a figure			vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent figure=Theme
5	possess	gerund	a figure not said here	three sides			vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot side=Theme

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 figure may be a square

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 figure	det
2	figure	figure	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 square	nsubj
3	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 square	aux
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 square	cop
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 square	det
6	square	square	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	may	the figure	a square					tree rules

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The figure is not a square

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 figure	det
2	figure	figure	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 square	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 square	cop
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	6 square	advmod
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 square	det
6	square	square	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not is a	present	the figure	a square					tree rules

Option 3

The figure is a square

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 figure	det
2	figure	figure	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 square	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 square	cop
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 square	det
5	square	square	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	the figure	a square					tree rules

Option 4

The figure possesses four sides

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 figure	det
2	figure	figure	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 possesses	nsubj
3	possesses	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	four	four	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	5 sides	nummod
5	sides	side	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 possesses	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	present	the figure	four sides					vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot side=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/184-if-then-and-its-traps/e2/