Exam question 4 · Being a scientist — fair tests, guesses and evidence

Select the response that is consistent with the established facts concerning the conduct of scientists confronted with good new evidence.

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

This is exam question 4 of lesson 91 «Being a scientist — fair tests, guesses and evidence» 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 conduct	det
13	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 concerning	obj
14	of	of	SCONJ	_	16 confronted	mark
15	scientists	scientist	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 confronted	nsubj
16	confronted	confront	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	13 conduct	acl
17	with	with	ADP	_	20 evidence	case
18	good	good	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 evidence	amod
19	new	new	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 evidence	amod
20	evidence	evidence	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 confronted	obl
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 conduct		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus conduct=Experiencer
5	confront	past	scientists	the conduct not said here	with good new evidence	vn confront-98 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent conduct=Theme with evidence=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.

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

They change their minds when it shows them to be wrong

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	2 change	nsubj
2	change	change	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 minds	nmod:poss
4	minds	mind	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 change	obj
5	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	7 shows	advmod
6	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 shows	nsubj
7	shows	show	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 change	advcl
8	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 shows	obj
9	to	to	PART	_	11 wrong	mark
10	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	11 wrong	cop
11	wrong	wrong	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 shows	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	change	present	They	their minds		vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mind=Patient
2	show	present	it	minds = mind		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient
3	is	to-infinitive			wrong property	tree rules
4	mind		their = they			nom mind «cognition transitive»: poss=agent

Option 2

They disregard it in favour of their earlier, firmer beliefs

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	2 disregard	nsubj
2	disregard	disregard	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 disregard	obj
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 favour	case
5	favour	favour	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 disregard	obl
6	of	of	ADP	_	11 beliefs	case
7	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 beliefs	nmod:poss
8	earlier	early	ADV	Degree=Cmp	11 beliefs	advmod
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 beliefs	punct
10	firmer	firm	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	11 beliefs	amod
11	beliefs	belief	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 favour	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	disregard	present	They	it	favour of their firmer beliefs	vn neglect-75.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme
2	favour			their firmer beliefs		nom favour «feeling transitive»: of=patient
3	believe		their = they			nom belief «cognition transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3

They conceal it from other scientists

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	2 conceal	nsubj
2	conceal	conceal	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 conceal	obj
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 scientists	case
5	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 scientists	amod
6	scientists	scientist	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 conceal	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	conceal	present	They	it		other scientists			vn concealment-16 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent it=Patient from scientist=Beneficiary

Option 4

They repeat their former claims more firmly

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	2 repeat	nsubj
2	repeat	repeat	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 claims	nmod:poss
4	former	former	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 claims	amod
5	claims	claim	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 repeat	obj
6	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	7 firmly	advmod
7	firmly	firmly	ADV	_	2 repeat	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	repeat	present	They	their former claims				firmly property	vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent claim=Eventuality
2	claim		their = they						nom claim «communication transitive»: poss=agent

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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