Exam question 4 · Babe: real pigs, sheep and sheepdogs

Ascertain the meaning of the command «come by» as employed by shepherds.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, come by, employ, mean · To what, where: meaning, command

This is exam question 4 of lesson 144 «Babe: real pigs, sheep and sheepdogs» of the biology 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	3 meaning	det
3	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 command	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 command	det
6	command	command	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 meaning	nmod
7	«	«	PUNCT	_	8 come	punct
8	come	come	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	1 Ascertain	conj
9	by	by	ADP	_	8 come	obl
10	»	»	PUNCT	_	8 come	punct
11	as	as	SCONJ	_	12 employed	mark
12	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 come	advcl
13	by	by	ADP	_	14 shepherds	case
14	shepherds	shepherd	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 employed	obl
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the meaning of the command		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Topic
2	come by in a quote	infinitive	you not said here			vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	employ	participle	you not said here		by shepherds	vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	mean			the command		nom meaning «communication transitive»: of=patient

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 dog is to return directly to the shepherd

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 dog	det
2	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 return	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 return	cop
4	to	to	PART	_	5 return	mark
5	return	return	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	directly	directly	ADV	_	5 return	advmod
7	to	to	ADP	_	9 shepherd	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 shepherd	det
9	shepherd	shepherd	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 return	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the dog					to the shepherd; directly, return property	tree rules

Option 2

The dog is to lie down and remain stationary

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 dog	det
2	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 lie	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 lie	cop
4	to	to	PART	_	5 lie	mark
5	lie	lie	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	down	down	ADP	_	5 lie	compound:prt
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 remain	cc
8	remain	remain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 lie	conj
9	stationary	stationary	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 remain	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the dog					lie property	tree rules
2	remain	infinitive	the dog not said here	stationary					vn seem-109-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme stationary=Attribute

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The dog is to proceed clockwise around the flock

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 dog	det
2	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 proceed	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 proceed	cop
4	to	to	PART	_	5 proceed	mark
5	proceed	proceed	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	clockwise	clockwise	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 proceed	xcomp
7	around	around	ADP	_	9 flock	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 flock	det
9	flock	flock	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 proceed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the dog			the flock		clockwise, proceed property	tree rules

Option 4

The dog is to proceed anticlockwise around the flock

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 dog	det
2	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 proceed	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 proceed	cop
4	to	to	PART	_	5 proceed	mark
5	proceed	proceed	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	anticlockwise	anticlockwise	ADV	_	5 proceed	advmod
7	around	around	ADP	_	9 flock	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 flock	det
9	flock	flock	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 proceed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the dog			the flock		anticlockwise, proceed property	tree rules

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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