Exam question 3 · Celtic Fairy Tales, Ian the Soldier's Son, part 8: Ian fre…

State the object which the raven employed in dispatching the giant, and the manner of its employment.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: raven · What happens: employ, dispatch · To what, where: State object, giant

This is exam question 3 of lesson 1142 «Celtic Fairy Tales, Ian the Soldier's Son, part 8: Ian frees the knight's daughter, kills the giant, and is left behind on the island» 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	State	state	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 object	compound
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 object	det
3	object	object	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 employed	obj
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 raven	det
6	raven	raven	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 employed	nsubj
7	employed	employ	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 object	acl:relcl
8	in	in	SCONJ	_	9 dispatching	mark
9	dispatching	dispatch	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	7 employed	advcl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 giant	det
11	giant	giant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 dispatching	obj
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 manner	punct
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 manner	cc
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 manner	det
15	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 object	appos
16	of	of	ADP	_	18 employment	case
17	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	18 employment	nmod:poss
18	employment	employment	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 manner	nmod
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 object	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	employ	past	the raven	the State object	vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Theme
2	dispatch	gerund	the raven not said here	the giant	vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent giant=Patient
3	employ		raven		nom employment «state transitive»: 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 · ← Mova's choice

The sharp knife, used by the giant to cut his own hair

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 knife	det
2	sharp	sharp	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 knife	amod
3	knife	knife	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 used	punct
5	used	use	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 knife	acl
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 giant	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 giant	det
8	giant	giant	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 used	obl
9	to	to	PART	_	10 cut	mark
10	cut	cut	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 used	advcl
11	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 hair	nmod:poss
12	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 hair	amod
13	hair	hair	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 cut	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	use	participle		the sharp knife not said here				by the giant	vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	cut	to-infinitive		giant's own hair					vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset hair=Product

Option 2

The raven's sharp knife, which Ian employed to remove the giant's head from his shoulders entirely

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 raven	det
2	raven	raven	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 knife	nmod:poss
3	's	's	PART	_	2 raven	case
4	sharp	sharp	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 knife	amod
5	knife	knife	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 employed	nsubj:outer
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 employed	punct
7	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 employed	obj
8	Ian	Ian	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 employed	nsubj
9	employed	employ	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	to	to	PART	_	11 remove	mark
11	remove	remove	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 employed	xcomp
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 giant	det
13	giant	giant	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 head	nmod:poss
14	's	's	PART	_	13 giant	case
15	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 remove	obj
16	from	from	ADP	_	18 shoulders	case
17	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	18 shoulders	nmod:poss
18	shoulders	shoulder	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 remove	obl
19	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	11 remove	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	employ	past	the raven's sharp knife						vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent which=Theme clause=Attribute
2	remove	to-infinitive	the raven's sharp knife not said here	the giant's head		Ian's shoulders		entirely property	vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent head=Theme from shoulder=Source

Option 3

The raven's sharp knife, used by Ian to take off the giant's head and the arms as well

The tree, 20 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 raven	det
2	raven	raven	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 knife	nmod:poss
3	's	's	PART	_	2 raven	case
4	sharp	sharp	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 knife	amod
5	knife	knife	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 used	punct
7	used	use	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 knife	acl
8	by	by	ADP	_	9 Ian	case
9	Ian	Ian	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 used	obl:agent
10	to	to	PART	_	11 take	mark
11	take	take	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 used	advcl
12	off	off	ADP	_	11 take	compound:prt
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 giant	det
14	giant	giant	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 head	nmod:poss
15	's	's	PART	_	14 giant	case
16	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 take	obj
17	and	and	CCONJ	_	19 arms	cc
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 arms	det
19	arms	arm	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 head	conj
20	as	as	ADV	ExtPos=ADV	11 take	advmod
21	well	well	ADV	Degree=Pos	20 as	fixed

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	use	participle		the raven's sharp knife not said here					vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	take off	to-infinitive		the giant's head and the arms					vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The raven's sharp knife, used by Ian to sever the giant's head

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 raven	det
2	raven	raven	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 knife	nmod:poss
3	's	's	PART	_	2 raven	case
4	sharp	sharp	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 knife	amod
5	knife	knife	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 used	punct
7	used	use	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 knife	acl
8	by	by	ADP	_	9 Ian	case
9	Ian	Ian	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 used	obl:agent
10	to	to	PART	_	11 sever	mark
11	sever	sever	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 used	advcl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 giant	det
13	giant	giant	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 head	nmod:poss
14	's	's	PART	_	13 giant	case
15	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 sever	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	use	participle		the raven's sharp knife not said here					vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	sever	to-infinitive		the giant's head					vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Theme

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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