Exam question 1 · Russian Folk-Tales, The Forty-First Brother: the foal save…

In what order did the forty-one brothers choose their brides, and by what criterion was the youngest's choice determined?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: one brothers, criterion · What happens: do, choose, be, determine · To what, where: order, brides, youngest choice

This is exam question 1 of lesson 1129 «Russian Folk-Tales, The Forty-First Brother: the foal saves the brothers from Wednesday and the youngest wins the Tsar's favour» 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 order	case
2	what	what	DET	PronType=Int	3 order	det
3	order	order	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	9 brothers	det
6	forty	forty	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	8 one	compound
7	-	-	PUNCT	_	6 forty	punct
8	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	9 brothers	nummod
9	brothers	brother	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 choose	nsubj
10	choose	choose	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 did	parataxis
11	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 brides	nmod:poss
12	brides	bride	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 choose	obj
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 what	punct
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 what	cc
15	by	by	ADP	_	16 what	case
16	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	4 did	parataxis
17	criterion	criterion	NOUN	Number=Sing	22 choice	nsubj
18	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	22 choice	cop
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 choice	det
20	youngest	young	ADJ	Degree=Sup	22 choice	amod
21	's	's	PART	_	20 youngest	case
22	choice	choice	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 what	nsubj
23	determined	determine	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	22 choice	acl
24	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 did	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	do	past			what order	vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	choose	present	the one brothers	brothers's brides		vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bride=Theme
3	is a	past	criterion	the youngest choice		tree rules
4	determine	participle		the youngest choice not said here		vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: 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 · ← Mova's choice

By lot, drawn from a hat by the old man

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	2 lot	case
2	lot	lot	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 drawn	obl
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 lot	punct
4	drawn	draw	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 hat	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 hat	det
7	hat	hat	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 drawn	obl
8	by	by	ADP	_	11 man	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 man	det
10	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 man	amod
11	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 drawn	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	draw	participle						by lot; by the old man; from a hat	vn split-23.2 «NP V PP.co-patient»: agent=Patient from hat=Co-Patient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

By the youngest's preference for the bride holding the kerchief

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	5 preference	case
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 preference	det
3	youngest	young	ADJ	Degree=Sup	5 preference	amod
4	's	's	PART	_	3 youngest	case
5	preference	preference	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	for	for	ADP	_	8 bride	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 bride	det
8	bride	bride	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 preference	nmod
9	holding	hold	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 preference	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 kerchief	det
11	kerchief	kerchief	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 holding	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hold	gerund	the youngest preference for the bride not said here	the kerchief					vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent kerchief=Theme

Option 3

In birth order, and the youngest's choice was decided by the foal's advice on the road

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	In	in	ADP	_	3 order	case
2	birth	birth	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 order	compound
3	order	order	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 decided	punct
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 decided	cc
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 choice	det
7	youngest	young	ADJ	Degree=Sup	9 choice	amod
8	's	's	PART	_	7 youngest	case
9	choice	choice	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 decided	nsubj
10	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	11 decided	aux:pass
11	decided	decide	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 order	acl:relcl
12	by	by	ADP	_	16 advice	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 foal	det
14	foal	foal	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 advice	nmod:poss
15	's	's	PART	_	14 foal	case
16	advice	advice	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 decided	obl
17	on	on	ADP	_	19 road	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 road	det
19	road	road	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 advice	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	decide	past · passive	the foal's advice on the road	the youngest choice					vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent subject=Topic

Option 4

In birth order, with the youngest choosing last of all the brothers present

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	In	in	ADP	_	3 order	case
2	birth	birth	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 order	compound
3	order	order	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 choosing	punct
5	with	with	SCONJ	_	8 choosing	mark
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 choosing	det
7	youngest	young	ADJ	Degree=Sup	8 choosing	advmod
8	choosing	choose	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 order	acl
9	last	last	ADV	_	14 present	advmod
10	of	of	ADP	_	9 last	fixed
11	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	13 brothers	det:predet
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 brothers	det
13	brothers	brother	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 present	nsubj
14	present	present	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 choosing	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	choose	gerund	birth order not said here						vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	present	present	all brothers					last property	vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP»: agent=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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