Exam question 2 · Russian Folk-Tales, Tsar Novishny, part 9: the children ri…

By what means did the bullock enable the children to cross the sea?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: bullock, children · What happens: mean, enable, cross · To what, where: children, sea

This is exam question 2 of lesson 1103 «Russian Folk-Tales, Tsar Novishny, part 9: the children ride a horse, a humble-bee and a bullock away from the serpent, and the bullock gives his life to save them» 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	ADP	_	2 what	case
2	what	what	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 enable	obl
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 what	acl:relcl
4	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 enable	aux
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 bullock	det
6	bullock	bullock	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 enable	nsubj
7	enable	enable	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 children	det
9	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 enable	obj
10	to	to	PART	_	11 cross	mark
11	cross	cross	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 enable	xcomp
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 sea	det
13	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 cross	obj
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 enable	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	mean	present			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
2	enable	past · do-support	the bullock	the children	tree rules
3	cross	to-infinitive	the children not said here	the sea	vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sea=Patient

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

A brush drawn from his tail became a wall

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 brush	det
2	brush	brush	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 became	nsubj
3	drawn	draw	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 brush	acl
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 tail	case
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 tail	nmod:poss
6	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 drawn	obl
7	became	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 wall	det
9	wall	wall	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 became	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	draw	participle		a brush not said here				from his tail	vn split-23.2 «NP V PP.co-patient»: agent=Patient from tail=Co-Patient
2	become	past	a brush	a wall					vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

A bridge from his nose

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 bridge	det
2	bridge	bridge	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	5 nose	case
4	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 nose	nmod:poss
5	nose	nose	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 bridge	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

A handkerchief drawn from his ear became a bridge

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 handkerchief	det
2	handkerchief	handkerchief	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 became	nsubj
3	drawn	draw	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 handkerchief	acl
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 ear	case
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 ear	nmod:poss
6	ear	ear	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 drawn	obl
7	became	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 bridge	det
9	bridge	bridge	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 became	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	draw	participle		a handkerchief not said here				from his ear	vn split-23.2 «NP V PP.co-patient»: agent=Patient from ear=Co-Patient
2	become	past	a handkerchief	a bridge					vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient

Option 4

A comb drawn from his mouth became a fence

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 comb	det
2	comb	comb	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 became	nsubj
3	drawn	draw	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 comb	acl
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 mouth	case
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 mouth	nmod:poss
6	mouth	mouth	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 drawn	obl
7	became	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 fence	det
9	fence	fence	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 became	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	draw	participle		a comb not said here				from his mouth	vn split-23.2 «NP V PP.co-patient»: agent=Patient from mouth=Co-Patient
2	become	past	a comb	a fence					vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient

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/1103-pg29672-part9/e2/