Exam question 2 · Fairy Tales, Donkeyskin, part 1: a dying Queen makes the K…

In what manner did the Princess endeavour to dissuade her father from his unnatural proposal?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: his · What happens: do, dissuade, propose · To what, where: Princess endeavour, manner, father, unnatural proposal

This is exam question 2 of lesson 1091 «Fairy Tales, Donkeyskin, part 1: a dying Queen makes the King swear, the King goes mad, and the Princess flees to her godmother» 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	ADP	_	3 manner	case
2	what	what	DET	PronType=Int	3 manner	det
3	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 did	obl
4	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 endeavour	det
6	Princess	Princess	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 endeavour	compound
7	endeavour	endeavour	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 did	obj
8	to	to	PART	_	9 dissuade	mark
9	dissuade	dissuade	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 endeavour	acl
10	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 father	nmod:poss
11	father	father	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 dissuade	obj
12	from	from	ADP	_	15 proposal	case
13	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	15 proposal	nmod:poss
14	unnatural	unnatural	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 proposal	amod
15	proposal	proposal	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 dissuade	obl
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 did	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	roles by
1	do	past		the Princess endeavour		what manner	vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent endeavour=Eventuality
2	dissuade	to-infinitive		the Princess endeavour not said here	her father	his unnatural proposal	vn discourage-64.5 «NP V NP PP.eventuality»: agent=Causer father=Beneficiary from proposal=Eventuality
3	propose		his = he				nom proposal «communication intransitive»: poss=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 · ← Mova's choice

by kneeling before him in the great hall and begging with bitter tears and sobs

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	by	by	SCONJ	_	2 kneeling	mark
2	kneeling	kneel	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	before	before	ADP	_	4 him	case
4	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 kneeling	obl
5	in	in	ADP	_	8 hall	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 hall	det
7	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 hall	amod
8	hall	hall	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 kneeling	obl
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 begging	cc
10	begging	beg	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 kneeling	conj
11	with	with	ADP	_	13 tears	case
12	bitter	bitter	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 tears	amod
13	tears	tear	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 begging	obl
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 sobs	cc
15	sobs	sob	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 tears	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	kneel	gerund				the great hall	before him = he		vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent before he=Location
2	beg speech: request	gerund						with bitter tears and sobs	vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V PP.Topic»: agent=Agent

Option 2

by refusing to eat for many days

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	by	by	SCONJ	_	2 refusing	mark
2	refusing	refuse	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 eat	mark
4	eat	eat	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 refusing	xcomp
5	for	for	ADP	_	7 days	case
6	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 days	amod
7	days	day	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 eat	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	refuse	gerund							vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	not eat	to-infinitive					day		vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

by prostrating herself before him and pleading

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	by	by	SCONJ	_	2 prostrating	mark
2	prostrating	prostrate	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	herself	herself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	2 prostrating	obj
4	before	before	ADP	_	5 him	case
5	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 prostrating	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 pleading	cc
7	pleading	plead	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 prostrating	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prostrate	gerund		herself = she			before him = he		tree rules
2	plead speech: request	gerund							tree rules

Option 4

by arguing with him through the Council

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	by	by	SCONJ	_	2 arguing	mark
2	arguing	argue	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	with	with	ADP	_	4 him	case
4	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 arguing	obl
5	through	through	ADP	_	7 Council	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Council	det
7	Council	Council	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 arguing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	argue speech: disagree	gerund				the Council		with him = he	vn chit_chat-37.6-1 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with he=Co-Agent

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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