Test 12 · ★ · Gods and Fighting Men, the tale of Conn and Segda, part 32…

Was the executioner about to do it right then, or did he stop?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: he · What happens: be, do, stop · To what, where: executioner

This is test 12 · ★ of lesson 1064 «Gods and Fighting Men, the tale of Conn and Segda, part 32: Conn lands on a magic island, asks for the queen's son, and the boy is condemned to die» of the books course of Mova's primary school. 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	Was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 executioner	cop
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 executioner	det
3	executioner	executioner	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 do	obl
4	about	about	ADP	_	6 do	case
5	to	to	PART	_	6 do	mark
6	do	do	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 do	obj
8	right	right	ADV	_	9 then	advmod
9	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	6 do	advmod
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 stop	punct
11	or	or	CCONJ	_	14 stop	cc
12	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	14 stop	aux
13	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 stop	nsubj
14	stop	stop	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 do	conj
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 do	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	is a	past		the executioner		tree rules
2	do	to-infinitive		executioner	then	vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality
3	stop	past · do-support	he			vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality

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 was about to strike when a voice from the crowd made him wait, and everyone held their breath

The tree, 19 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	3 about	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 about	cop
3	about	about	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 strike	mark
5	strike	strike	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 about	xcomp
6	when	when	SCONJ	_	12 made	mark
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 voice	det
8	voice	voice	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 made	nsubj
9	from	from	ADP	_	11 crowd	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 crowd	det
11	crowd	crowd	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 voice	nmod
12	made	make	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 strike	ccomp
13	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 made	obj
14	wait	wait	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 made	xcomp
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 held	punct
16	and	and	CCONJ	_	18 held	cc
17	everyone	everyone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Tot	18 held	nsubj
18	held	hold	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 about	conj
19	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	20 breath	nmod:poss
20	breath	breath	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 held	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	past	He		about property	tree rules
2	strike	to-infinitive	He not said here			tree rules
3	make	past	a voice from the crowd	him = he		tree rules
4	wait	infinitive	him = he not said here			vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
5	hold	past	everyone	their breath		vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent breath=Theme

Option 2

He paused, then the king called him off

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 paused	nsubj
2	paused	pause	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 called	punct
4	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	7 called	advmod
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 king	det
6	king	king	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 called	nsubj
7	called	call	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 paused	conj
8	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 called	obj
9	off	off	ADP	_	7 called	compound:prt

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pause	past	He						vn linger-53.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent
2	call off speech: assert	past	the king		him = he		then		vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

He was about to strike, but a voice made him wait

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 about	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 about	cop
3	about	about	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 strike	mark
5	strike	strike	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 about	xcomp
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 made	punct
7	but	but	CCONJ	_	10 made	cc
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 voice	det
9	voice	voice	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 made	nsubj
10	made	make	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 about	conj
11	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 made	obj
12	wait	wait	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 made	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	past	He		about property	tree rules
2	strike	to-infinitive	He not said here			vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	make	past	a voice	him = he		tree rules
4	wait	infinitive	him = he not said here			vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

He was just about to, then a voice stopped

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 about	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 about	cop
3	just	just	ADV	_	4 about	advmod
4	about	about	ADV	_	10 stopped	advmod
5	to	to	PART	_	4 about	fixed
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 about	punct
7	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	10 stopped	advmod
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 voice	det
9	voice	voice	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 stopped	nsubj
10	stopped	stop	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	He					about property	tree rules
2	stop	participle	a voice				then		vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality

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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