Exam question 3 · Russian Folk-Tales, The Serpent's Wife, part 16: Tremsin w…

By what means was the labourer's wife brought into being?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: wife · What happens: mean, be, bring · To what, where: wife

This is exam question 3 of lesson 1110 «Russian Folk-Tales, The Serpent's Wife, part 16: Tremsin wins the herd and the Nastasia's riddle, then a labourer's wife turns out to be a serpent» 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	8 wife	obl
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 what	acl:relcl
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 wife	cop
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 labourer	det
6	labourer	labourer	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 wife	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 labourer	case
8	wife	wife	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 brought	nsubj
9	brought	bring	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	into	into	SCONJ	_	11 being	mark
11	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	9 brought	advcl
12	?	?	PUNCT	_	9 brought	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	mean	present			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
2	is a	past		the labourer's wife	tree rules
3	bring	past	the labourer's wife		vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: 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

Being carried out of a burning sheaf by a gust of wind

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 carried	aux:pass
2	carried	carry	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
3	out	out	ADP	_	7 sheaf	case
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 sheaf	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 sheaf	det
6	burning	burn	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 sheaf	amod
7	sheaf	sheaf	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 carried	obl
8	by	by	ADP	_	10 gust	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 gust	det
10	gust	gust	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 carried	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 wind	case
12	wind	wind	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 gust	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	carry out	gerund · passive	a gust of wind	a burning sheaf					vn act-114 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sheaf=Eventuality
2	burn	gerund							vn light_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

Heating of a bowl

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Heating	heating	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 bowl	case
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 bowl	det
4	bowl	bowl	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Heating	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	heat		a bowl						nom heating «process intransitive»: of=agent

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Burning of a field

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Burning	burn	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 field	case
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 field	det
4	field	field	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Burning	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	burn	gerund						of a field	vn light_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Combustion of a sheaf

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Combustion	combustion	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 sheaf	case
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 sheaf	det
4	sheaf	sheaf	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Combustion	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	combust		a sheaf						nom combustion «process intransitive»: of=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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