Exam question 1 · Grimm, Hansel and Grethel, part 4: lost again, then trappe…

Which of the following describes the means by which Hansel endeavoured to mark the homeward path on the second occasion?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Hansel · What happens: follow, describe, mean, endeavour, mark · To what, where: homeward path, second occasion · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 1 of lesson 101 «Grimm, Hansel and Grethel, part 4: lost again, then trapped by a witch in a sugar cottage» of the books 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 means	nsubj
2	of	of	SCONJ	_	5 describes	mark
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 describes	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 describes	nsubj
5	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 means	advcl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 means	nsubj
7	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	by	by	ADP	_	9 which	case
9	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 endeavoured	obl
10	Hansel	Hansel	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 endeavoured	nsubj
11	endeavoured	endeavour	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 means	ccomp
12	to	to	PART	_	13 mark	mark
13	mark	mark	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	11 endeavoured	xcomp
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 path	det
15	homeward	homeward	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 path	compound
16	path	path	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 mark	obj
17	on	on	ADP	_	20 occasion	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 occasion	det
19	second	second	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	20 occasion	amod
20	occasion	occasion	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 mark	obl
21	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 means	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	describe	present				vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent
3	mean	present				vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
4	endeavour	past	Hansel			tree rules
5	mark	to-infinitive	Hansel not said here	the homeward path	the second occasion	vn image_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.theme PP.destination»: agent=Agent path=Theme on occasion=Destination

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

He scattered pebbles along the track

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 scattered	nsubj
2	scattered	scatter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	pebbles	pebble	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 scattered	obj
4	along	along	ADP	_	6 track	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 track	det
6	track	track	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 scattered	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	scatter	past	He	pebbles		the track			vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent pebble=Theme along track=Destination

Option 2

He scattered small crumbs of white bread along the whole path behind them

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 scattered	nsubj
2	scattered	scatter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 crumbs	amod
4	crumbs	crumb	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 scattered	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 bread	case
6	white	white	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 bread	amod
7	bread	bread	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 crumbs	nmod
8	along	along	ADP	_	11 path	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 path	det
10	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 path	amod
11	path	path	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 scattered	obl
12	behind	behind	ADP	_	13 them	case
13	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 path	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	scatter	past	He	small crumbs of white bread		the whole path behind crumbs			vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent crumb=Theme along path=Destination

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

He dropped little crumbs of bread along the whole path behind them as they walked

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 dropped	nsubj
2	dropped	drop	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	little	little	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 crumbs	amod
4	crumbs	crumb	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 dropped	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 bread	case
6	bread	bread	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 crumbs	nmod
7	along	along	ADP	_	10 path	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 path	det
9	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 path	amod
10	path	path	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 dropped	obl
11	behind	behind	ADP	_	12 them	case
12	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 path	nmod
13	as	as	SCONJ	_	15 walked	mark
14	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 walked	nsubj
15	walked	walk	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 dropped	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	drop	past	He	little crumbs of bread		the whole path behind crumbs			vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent crumb=Theme along path=Destination
2	walk	past	crumbs = crumb						vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

He dropped crumbs of bread upon the path

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 dropped	nsubj
2	dropped	drop	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	crumbs	crumb	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 dropped	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 bread	case
5	bread	bread	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 crumbs	nmod
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	8 path	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 path	det
8	path	path	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 dropped	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	drop	past	He	crumbs of bread		the path			vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent crumb=Theme upon path=Destination

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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