Exam question 4 · Fionn Tales, The Brawl at the Feast, part 23: Goll's boast…

By what means did Fergus True-Lips bring the combatants to a cessation?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Lips · What happens: mean, bring · To what, where: Fergus, cessation · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 4 of lesson 1055 «Fionn Tales, The Brawl at the Feast, part 23: Goll's boast starts a hall-wide fight, then judges at Tara give their ruling» 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	By	by	SCONJ	_	3 means	mark
2	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	3 means	nsubj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 Fergus	aux
5	Fergus	Fergus	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 bring	obl
6	True	True	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 Fergus	flat
7	-	-	PUNCT	_	8 Lips	punct
8	Lips	lip	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 bring	nsubj
9	bring	bring	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 means	ccomp
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 combatants	det
11	combatants	combatant	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 bring	obj
12	to	to	ADP	_	14 cessation	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 cessation	det
14	cessation	cessation	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 bring	obl
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 means	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mean	present							vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	bring	present	Lips	Fergus		a cessation			vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent combatant=Theme to cessation=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 · ← Mova's choice

By chanting rhythmic incantations over the whole hall until they stopped

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 chanting	mark
2	chanting	chant	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	rhythmic	rhythmic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 incantations	amod
4	incantations	incantation	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 chanting	obj
5	over	over	ADP	_	8 hall	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 hall	det
7	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 hall	amod
8	hall	hall	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 chanting	obl
9	until	until	SCONJ	_	11 stopped	mark
10	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 stopped	nsubj
11	stopped	stop	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 chanting	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	chant	gerund		rhythmic incantations		the whole hall			vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent incantation=Topic
2	stop	past	incantations = incantation						vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality

Option 2

By striking down the leaders

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 striking	mark
2	striking	strike	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	down	down	ADP	_	5 leaders	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 leaders	det
5	leaders	leader	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 striking	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	strike down	gerund		the leaders					vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leader=Patient

Option 3

By threatening both sides with spears

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 threatening	mark
2	threatening	threaten	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	both	both	DET	PronType=Tot	4 sides	det
4	sides	side	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 threatening	obj
5	with	with	ADP	_	6 spears	case
6	spears	spear	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 threatening	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	threaten	gerund		both sides				with spears	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus side=Experiencer

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

By chanting rhythmic incantations

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 chanting	mark
2	chanting	chant	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	rhythmic	rhythmic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 incantations	amod
4	incantations	incantation	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 chanting	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	chant	gerund		rhythmic incantations					vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent incantation=Topic

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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