Exam question 1 · Russian Fairy Tales, The Old Man Who Went to School: an ol…

Which phrase in the text describes the old man's reaction when he is told he must attend school?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: phrase, old man · What happens: describe, tell, attend, react · To what, where: reaction, phrase, school · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 1 of lesson 1124 «Russian Fairy Tales, The Old Man Who Went to School: an old man is sent to school, a nobleman gives him a purse, and his sons are tricked» 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	Which	which	DET	PronType=Int	2 phrase	det
2	phrase	phrase	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 describes	nsubj
3	in	in	ADP	_	5 text	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 text	det
5	text	text	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 phrase	nmod
6	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 man	det
8	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 man	amod
9	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 reaction	nmod:poss
10	's	's	PART	_	9 man	case
11	reaction	reaction	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 describes	obj
12	when	when	SCONJ	_	15 told	mark
13	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 told	nsubj
14	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 told	aux:pass
15	told	tell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 describes	advcl
16	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	18 attend	nsubj
17	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	18 attend	aux
18	attend	attend	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	15 told	xcomp
19	school	school	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 attend	obj
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 describes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	describe	present	which phrase in the text	the old man's reaction	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reaction=Theme
2	tell speech: assert	present · passive		phrase	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic
3	attend not said to happen	must	phrase	school	vn attend-107.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme school=Goal
4	react		the old man		nom reaction «process 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

he was forced to go although he cried out that he was too old to learn anything at all

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 forced	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 forced	aux:pass
3	forced	force	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 go	mark
5	go	go	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 forced	xcomp
6	although	although	SCONJ	_	8 cried	mark
7	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 cried	nsubj
8	cried	cry	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 go	advcl
9	out	out	ADP	_	8 cried	compound:prt
10	that	that	SCONJ	_	14 old	mark
11	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 old	nsubj
12	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	14 old	cop
13	too	too	ADV	_	14 old	advmod
14	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 cried	advcl
15	to	to	PART	_	16 learn	mark
16	learn	learn	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	14 old	advcl
17	anything	anything	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	16 learn	obj
18	at	at	ADP	_	19 all	case
19	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	17 anything	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	force	past · passive		he			vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic
2	go	to-infinitive	he not said here				vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	cry out speech: express	past	he				vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent
4	is	past	he			old property	tree rules
5	learn	to-infinitive	he not said here	anything	all		vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Topic

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

"his children prevailed against his feeble old voice"

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	"	"	PUNCT	_	4 prevailed	punct
2	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 children	nmod:poss
3	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 prevailed	nsubj
4	prevailed	prevail	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	against	against	ADP	_	9 voice	case
6	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 voice	nmod:poss
7	feeble	feeble	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 voice	amod
8	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 voice	amod
9	voice	voice	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 prevailed	obl
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	4 prevailed	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prevail in a quote	past	his children			his feeble old voice			vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme against voice=Location

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

he tried to speak but his sons ignored him at the door

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 tried	nsubj
2	tried	try	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 speak	mark
4	speak	speak	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 tried	xcomp
5	but	but	CCONJ	_	8 ignored	cc
6	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 sons	nmod:poss
7	sons	son	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 ignored	nsubj
8	ignored	ignore	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 tried	conj
9	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 ignored	obj
10	at	at	ADP	_	12 door	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 door	det
12	door	door	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 ignored	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	try	past	he			vn try-61.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
2	speak speech: other not said to happen	to-infinitive	he not said here			vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	ignore	past	his sons	him = he	the door	vn neglect-75.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme

Option 4

his sons overruled him, and he wept, saying that he was far too old to learn his letters

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 sons	nmod:poss
2	sons	son	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 overruled	nsubj
3	overruled	overrule	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 overruled	obj
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 wept	punct
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 wept	cc
7	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 wept	nsubj
8	wept	weep	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 overruled	conj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 saying	punct
10	saying	say	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 wept	advcl
11	that	that	SCONJ	_	16 old	mark
12	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	16 old	nsubj
13	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	16 old	cop
14	far	far	ADV	Degree=Pos	16 old	advmod
15	too	too	ADV	_	16 old	advmod
16	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 saying	ccomp
17	to	to	PART	_	18 learn	mark
18	learn	learn	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	16 old	advcl
19	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	20 letters	nmod:poss
20	letters	letter	NOUN	Number=Plur	18 learn	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	overrule	past	his sons	him = he		tree rules
2	weep	past	he			vn breathe-40.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	say speech: assert	gerund	he not said here			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
4	is	past	he		far, old property	tree rules
5	learn	to-infinitive	he not said here	his letters		vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent letter=Topic
6	letter		his = he			nom letter «communication transitive»: poss=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1124-pg29672-part30/e1/