Exam question 4 · Saying "I was wrong" and laughing without being cruel

Ascertain the principal objection to the remark "Prove it, jump off the roof" when addressed to a person who doubts gravity.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, person · What happens: ascertain, prove, jump off, address, doubt · To what, where: principal objection, objection, roof, gravity

This is exam question 4 of lesson 190 «Saying "I was wrong" and laughing without being cruel» 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 objection	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 objection	amod
4	objection	objection	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 remark	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 remark	det
7	remark	remark	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obl
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 Prove	punct
9	Prove	prove	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	1 Ascertain	conj
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 Prove	obj
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 jump	punct
12	jump	jump	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	9 Prove	conj
13	off	off	ADP	_	15 roof	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 roof	det
15	roof	roof	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 jump	obl
16	"	"	PUNCT	_	15 roof	punct
17	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	18 addressed	advmod
18	addressed	address	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 jump	advcl
19	to	to	ADP	_	21 person	case
20	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	21 person	det
21	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 addressed	obl
22	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	23 doubts	nsubj
23	doubts	doubt	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	21 person	acl:relcl
24	gravity	gravity	NOUN	Number=Sing	23 doubts	obj
25	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the principal objection	to the remark	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent objection=Topic
2	prove in a quote	infinitive	you not said here	objection		vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme
3	jump off in a quote	infinitive	you not said here	the roof		vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme roof=Trajectory
4	address	participle	you not said here		to a person	vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
5	doubt	present	a person	gravity		vn judgment-33.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent gravity=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

It is insufficiently amusing

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 amusing	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 amusing	cop
3	insufficiently	insufficiently	ADV	_	4 amusing	advmod
4	amusing	amusing	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					amusing, insufficiently property	tree rules

Option 2

It concerns gravity rather than the roof

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 concerns	nsubj
2	concerns	concern	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	gravity	gravity	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 concerns	obj
4	rather	rather	ADV	ExtPos=CCONJ	7 roof	cc
5	than	than	ADP	_	4 rather	fixed
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 roof	det
7	roof	roof	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 concerns	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	concern	present	It	gravity					vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus gravity=Experiencer

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It invites conduct that may result in serious injury

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 invites	nsubj
2	invites	invite	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 invites	obj
4	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 result	nsubj
5	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 result	aux
6	result	result	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 conduct	acl:relcl
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 injury	case
8	serious	serious	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 injury	amod
9	injury	injury	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 result	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	invite	present	It	conduct					vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent conduct=Recipient
2	result	may	conduct			serious injury			vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in injury=Location

Option 4

It fails to mention the speed of falling

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 fails	nsubj
2	fails	fail	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 mention	mark
4	mention	mention	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 fails	xcomp
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 speed	det
6	speed	speed	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 mention	obj
7	of	of	SCONJ	_	8 falling	mark
8	falling	fall	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 speed	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	fail	present	It		vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
2	not mention speech: other	to-infinitive		the speed	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent speed=Topic
3	fall	gerund	the speed not said here		vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=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.

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