Exam question 3 · Russian Tales, The Straw Ox: a clever old woman tricks a h…

Identify the circumstance which permits the bear to approach the ox unobserved, as recorded in the narrative.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, circumstance, ox · What happens: identify, permit, approach, unobserv, record · To what, where: circumstance, bear, narrative

This is exam question 3 of lesson 1113 «Russian Tales, The Straw Ox: a clever old woman tricks a hungry bear with a tar-smeared straw ox» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 circumstance	det
3	circumstance	circumstance	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 permits	nsubj
5	permits	permit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 circumstance	acl:relcl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 bear	det
7	bear	bear	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 permits	obj
8	to	to	PART	_	9 approach	mark
9	approach	approach	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 permits	advcl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 ox	det
11	ox	ox	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 unobserved	nsubj
12	unobserved	unobserv	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 approach	ccomp
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 recorded	punct
14	as	as	SCONJ	_	15 recorded	mark
15	recorded	record	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 unobserved	conj
16	in	in	ADP	_	18 narrative	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 narrative	det
18	narrative	narrative	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 recorded	obl
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the circumstance		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent circumstance=Theme
2	permit	present	the circumstance	the bear		vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bear=Theme
3	approach	to-infinitive	the circumstance not said here			tree rules
4	unobserv	past	the ox			tree rules
5	record	participle	the ox not said here		the narrative	vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in narrative=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

The old man, tired from work, drops his tools and sleeps

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 man	det
2	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 man	amod
3	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 drops	nsubj
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 tired	punct
5	tired	tired	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 man	amod
6	from	from	ADP	_	7 work	case
7	work	work	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 tired	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 man	punct
9	drops	drop	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 tools	nmod:poss
11	tools	tool	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 drops	obj
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 sleeps	cc
13	sleeps	sleep	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 tools	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	drop	present	the old man	man's tools and sleeps					vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tool=Theme

Option 2

The old woman, overcome with drowsiness after a long day at the spindle, allows her head to droop and dozes behind the hillock

The tree, 23 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 woman	det
2	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 woman	amod
3	woman	woman	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 allows	nsubj
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 overcome	punct
5	overcome	overcome	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 woman	acl
6	with	with	ADP	_	7 drowsiness	case
7	drowsiness	drowsiness	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 overcome	obl
8	after	after	ADP	_	11 day	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 day	det
10	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 day	amod
11	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 overcome	obl
12	at	at	ADP	_	14 spindle	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 spindle	det
14	spindle	spindle	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 day	nmod
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 woman	punct
16	allows	allow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
17	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	18 head	nmod:poss
18	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 allows	obj
19	to	to	PART	_	20 droop	mark
20	droop	droop	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	16 allows	xcomp
21	and	and	CCONJ	_	22 dozes	cc
22	dozes	doze	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	16 allows	conj
23	behind	behind	ADP	_	25 hillock	case
24	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	25 hillock	det
25	hillock	hillock	NOUN	Number=Sing	22 dozes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	overcome	infinitive	the old woman not said here			day	with drowsiness	vn exceed-90 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot
2	allow	present	the old woman	woman's head				vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Causer head=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality
3	droop not said to happen	to-infinitive	woman's head not said here					vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
4	doze	present	the old woman not said here		the hillock			vn snooze-40.4 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The old woman, overcome with drowsiness, allows her head to droop and dozes

The tree, 13 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 woman	det
2	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 woman	amod
3	woman	woman	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 allows	nsubj
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 overcome	punct
5	overcome	overcome	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 woman	acl
6	with	with	ADP	_	7 drowsiness	case
7	drowsiness	drowsiness	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 overcome	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 woman	punct
9	allows	allow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 head	nmod:poss
11	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 allows	obj
12	to	to	PART	_	13 droop	mark
13	droop	droop	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 allows	advcl
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 dozes	cc
15	dozes	doze	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 droop	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	overcome	infinitive	the old woman not said here		with drowsiness	vn exceed-90 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot
2	allow	present	the old woman	woman's head		vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Beneficiary
3	droop	to-infinitive	the old woman not said here	dozes		vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location doze=Theme

Option 4

The old woman, overcome with drowsiness, allows her head to droop and dozes, while the ox continues grazing unwatched in the steppe

The tree, 22 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 woman	det
2	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 woman	amod
3	woman	woman	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 allows	nsubj
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 overcome	punct
5	overcome	overcome	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 woman	acl
6	with	with	ADP	_	7 drowsiness	case
7	drowsiness	drowsiness	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 overcome	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 woman	punct
9	allows	allow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 head	nmod:poss
11	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 allows	obj
12	to	to	PART	_	13 droop	mark
13	droop	droop	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 allows	advcl
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 dozes	cc
15	dozes	doze	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 droop	obj
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	20 continues	punct
17	while	while	SCONJ	_	20 continues	mark
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 ox	det
19	ox	ox	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 continues	nsubj
20	continues	continue	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 allows	conj
21	grazing	graze	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	20 continues	xcomp
22	unwatched	unwatch	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	21 grazing	xcomp
23	in	in	ADP	_	25 steppe	case
24	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	25 steppe	det
25	steppe	steppe	NOUN	Number=Sing	22 unwatched	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	overcome	infinitive	the old woman not said here			with drowsiness	vn exceed-90 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot
2	allow	present	the old woman	woman's head			vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Beneficiary
3	droop	to-infinitive	the old woman not said here	dozes			vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location doze=Theme
4	continue	present	the ox				vn continue-55.3 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
5	graze	gerund	the ox not said here				tree rules
6	unwatch	participle	the ox not said here		the steppe		tree rules

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/1113-pg29672-part19/e3/