Exam question 1 · Deirdre, Becfola's Wooing, part 21: Becfola sneaks home an…

Which of the following best describes the outcome of the combat on the lawn, as narrated in the passage?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, describe, narrate · To what, where: outcome, passage

This is exam question 1 of lesson 1053 «Deirdre, Becfola's Wooing, part 21: Becfola sneaks home and the king turns her scolding into a joke» 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	6 describes	obj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 best	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 best	det
4	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 best	case
5	best	good	ADJ	Degree=Sup	6 describes	nmod
6	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	17 narrated	advcl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 outcome	det
8	outcome	outcome	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 describes	obj
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 combat	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 combat	det
11	combat	combat	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 outcome	nmod
12	on	on	ADP	_	14 lawn	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 lawn	det
14	lawn	lawn	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 combat	nmod
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 narrated	punct
16	as	as	SCONJ	_	17 narrated	mark
17	narrated	narrate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
18	in	in	ADP	_	20 passage	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 passage	det
20	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 narrated	obl
21	?	?	PUNCT	_	17 narrated	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	describe	present	the outcome of the combat on the lawn		of the best	tree rules
3	narrate speech: other	participle		the passage		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

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 · ✓ the right answer

Seven of the eight combatants were slain and one remained standing.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Seven	seven	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	root	root
2	of	of	SCONJ	_	7 slain	mark
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 combatants	det
4	eight	eight	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	5 combatants	nummod
5	combatants	combatant	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 slain	nsubj
6	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 slain	cop
7	slain	slain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Seven	acl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 standing	cc
9	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	11 standing	nummod
10	remained	remain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 standing	amod
11	standing	standing	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 slain	conj
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Seven	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	the eight combatants					slain property	tree rules
2	remain	participle							vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

After a long contest, the eighth combatant fled into the woods while the seven others lay slain upon the lawn.

The tree, 20 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	After	after	ADP	_	4 contest	case
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 contest	det
3	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 contest	amod
4	contest	contest	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 fled	obl
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 contest	punct
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 combatant	det
7	eighth	eighth	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 combatant	amod
8	combatant	combatant	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 fled	nsubj
9	fled	flee	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	into	into	ADP	_	12 woods	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 woods	det
12	woods	wood	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 fled	obl
13	while	while	SCONJ	_	18 slain	mark
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 others	det
15	seven	seven	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	16 others	nummod
16	others	other	NOUN	Number=Plur	18 slain	nsubj
17	lay	lie	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	18 slain	aux:pass
18	slain	slay	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 fled	advcl
19	upon	upon	ADP	_	21 lawn	case
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 lawn	det
21	lawn	lawn	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 slain	obl
22	.	.	PUNCT	_	9 fled	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	flee	past	the eighth combatant			the woods	after a long contest		vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme into wood=Initial_Location
2	slay	past · passive		the seven others				upon the lawn	vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient

Option 3

Eight combatants fought until only the victor survived, and the rest were carried off by the clerics to Devenish.

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Eight	eight	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	2 combatants	nummod
2	combatants	combatant	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 fought	nsubj
3	fought	fight	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	until	until	SCONJ	_	8 survived	mark
5	only	only	ADV	_	7 victor	advmod
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 victor	det
7	victor	victor	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 survived	nsubj
8	survived	survive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 fought	advcl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 carried	punct
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 carried	cc
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 rest	det
12	rest	rest	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 carried	nsubj:pass
13	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	14 carried	aux:pass
14	carried	carry	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 fought	parataxis
15	off	off	ADP	_	14 carried	compound:prt
16	by	by	ADP	_	18 clerics	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 clerics	det
18	clerics	cleric	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 carried	obl
19	to	to	ADP	_	20 Devenish	case
20	Devenish	Devenish	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 carried	obl
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 fought	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	roles by
1	fight	past	Eight combatants			vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	survive	past	the victor			vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	carry off	past · passive	the clerics	the rest	Devenish	vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent subject=Theme to devenish=Destination

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

The contest ended in a truce, with all eight combatants sparing one another.

The tree, 13 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 contest	det
2	contest	contest	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 ended	nsubj
3	ended	end	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 truce	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 truce	det
6	truce	truce	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 ended	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 combatants	punct
8	with	with	ADP	_	11 combatants	case
9	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	11 combatants	det
10	eight	eight	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	11 combatants	nummod
11	combatants	combatant	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 ended	obl
12	sparing	spare	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	11 combatants	acl
13	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	12 sparing	obj
14	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	13 one	fixed
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 ended	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	end	past	the contest			a truce		with all eight combatants	vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality PP.subeventuality»: agent=Affector with combatant=Subeventuality
2	spare	gerund	all eight combatants not said here	one					vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: agent=Agent one=Asset

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/1053-pg2892-part21/e1/