Exam question 3 · Fionn mac Cumhaill, The Boyhood of Fionn, part 6: Fionn tr…

In what manner does the narrative describe Fionn's proficiency in swimming in comparison with that of a fish?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: manner, you · What happens: do, describe · To what, where: narrative, proficiency, swimming

This is exam question 3 of lesson 1038 «Fionn mac Cumhaill, The Boyhood of Fionn, part 6: Fionn trains hard, learns to swim, and is left sneezing in a tree» 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	In	in	SCONJ	_	4 does	mark
2	what	what	DET	PronType=Int	3 manner	det
3	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 does	nsubj
4	does	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 describe	advcl
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 narrative	det
6	narrative	narrative	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 does	obj
7	describe	describe	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	Fionn	Fionn	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 proficiency	nmod:poss
9	's	's	PART	_	8 Fionn	case
10	proficiency	proficiency	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 describe	obj
11	in	in	ADP	_	12 swimming	case
12	swimming	swimming	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 describe	obl
13	in	in	ADP	_	14 comparison	case
14	comparison	comparison	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 describe	obl
15	with	with	ADP	_	16 that	case
16	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	14 comparison	nmod
17	of	of	ADP	_	19 fish	case
18	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	19 fish	det
19	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 that	nmod
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 describe	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	do	present	what manner	the narrative					vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent narrative=Eventuality
2	describe	imperative	you not said here	Fionn's proficiency		swimming		in comparison with that	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent proficiency=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

He is faster, because fish glide with slow waves

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	3 faster	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 faster	cop
3	faster	fast	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 glide	punct
5	because	because	SCONJ	_	7 glide	mark
6	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 glide	nsubj
7	glide	glide	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 faster	conj
8	with	with	ADP	_	10 waves	case
9	slow	slow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 waves	amod
10	waves	wave	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 glide	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	He					fast property	tree rules
2	glide	present	fish					with slow waves	vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

He is far less adept, since fish move in sudden spurts and he must learn their quick darts from the otter

The tree, 21 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	5 adept	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 adept	cop
3	far	far	ADV	Degree=Pos	5 adept	advmod
4	less	less	ADV	Degree=Cmp	5 adept	advmod
5	adept	adept	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 move	punct
7	since	since	SCONJ	_	9 move	mark
8	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 move	nsubj
9	move	move	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 adept	acl:relcl
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 spurts	case
11	sudden	sudden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 spurts	amod
12	spurts	spurt	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 move	obl
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 learn	cc
14	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	16 learn	nsubj
15	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	16 learn	aux
16	learn	learn	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 move	conj
17	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	19 darts	nmod:poss
18	quick	quick	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 darts	amod
19	darts	dart	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 learn	obj
20	from	from	ADP	_	22 otter	case
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 otter	det
22	otter	otter	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 learn	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	is a	present	He	adept		far, less property	tree rules
2	move	present	fish	adept not said here	sudden spurts		vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent adept=Theme
3	learn	must	he	fish's quick darts		from the otter	vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent dart=Topic from otter=Source

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

He is less adept, since fish move in sudden spurts

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	4 adept	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 adept	cop
3	less	less	ADV	Degree=Cmp	4 adept	advmod
4	adept	adept	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 move	punct
6	since	since	SCONJ	_	8 move	mark
7	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 move	nsubj
8	move	move	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 adept	acl:relcl
9	in	in	ADP	_	11 spurts	case
10	sudden	sudden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 spurts	amod
11	spurts	spurt	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 move	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	He	adept				less property	tree rules
2	move	present	fish	adept not said here		sudden spurts			vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent adept=Theme

Option 4

He is less adept than a fish, which he learns only after many days of trying in the cold lake water

The tree, 21 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	4 adept	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 adept	cop
3	less	less	ADV	Degree=Cmp	4 adept	advmod
4	adept	adept	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	than	than	ADP	_	7 fish	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 fish	det
7	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 adept	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 learns	punct
9	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 learns	nsubj
10	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 learns	nsubj
11	learns	learn	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 adept	parataxis
12	only	only	ADV	_	15 days	advmod
13	after	after	ADP	_	15 days	case
14	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 days	amod
15	days	day	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 learns	obl
16	of	of	SCONJ	_	17 trying	mark
17	trying	try	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	15 days	acl
18	in	in	ADP	_	22 water	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 water	det
20	cold	cold	ADJ	Degree=Pos	22 water	amod
21	lake	lake	NOUN	Number=Sing	22 water	compound
22	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 trying	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	He	adept			than a fish; less property	tree rules
2	learn	present	adept			day		vn learn-14-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	try	gerund	many days not said here		the cold lake water			vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer

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/books/1038-pg2892-part6/e3/