Exam question 3 · More Celtic Fairy Tales, The Story of Manus, part 25: Manu…

By what means did the wife of Iarlaid obtain the allegiance of the twelve foster brothers?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: wife · What happens: mean, do, obtain · To what, where: allegiance

This is exam question 3 of lesson 1159 «More Celtic Fairy Tales, The Story of Manus, part 25: Manus is cheated of his share and is offered a sword» 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=Int	4 did	obj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 what	acl:relcl
4	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 wife	det
6	wife	wife	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 obtain	nsubj
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 Iarlaid	case
8	Iarlaid	Iarlaid	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 wife	nmod
9	obtain	obtain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 did	parataxis
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 allegiance	det
11	allegiance	allegiance	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 obtain	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	16 brothers	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 brothers	det
14	twelve	twelve	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	16 brothers	nummod
15	foster	foster	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 brothers	compound
16	brothers	brother	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 allegiance	nmod
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 did	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	mean	present			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
2	do	past			vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality
3	obtain	present	the wife of Iarlaid	the allegiance of the twelve foster brothers	vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent allegiance=Theme

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 persuading them to pledge fealty to her

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 persuading	mark
2	persuading	persuade	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 persuading	obj
4	to	to	PART	_	5 pledge	mark
5	pledge	pledge	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 persuading	xcomp
6	fealty	fealty	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 pledge	obj
7	to	to	ADP	_	8 her	case
8	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 pledge	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	persuade	gerund		them = they					vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent they=Patient clause=Result
2	pledge	to-infinitive	them = they not said here	fealty	her = she				vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent fealty=Theme to she=Goal

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

By compelling them to swear fealty to her

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 compelling	mark
2	compelling	compel	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 compelling	obj
4	to	to	PART	_	5 swear	mark
5	swear	swear	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 compelling	xcomp
6	fealty	fealty	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 swear	obj
7	to	to	ADP	_	8 her	case
8	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 swear	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	compel	gerund		them = they					vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent they=Patient clause=Result
2	swear	to-infinitive		fealty	her = she				vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent fealty=Eventuality

Option 3

By asking them to swear loyalty to her

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 asking	mark
2	asking	ask	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 asking	obj
4	to	to	PART	_	5 swear	mark
5	swear	swear	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 asking	xcomp
6	loyalty	loyalty	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 swear	obj
7	to	to	ADP	_	8 her	case
8	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 swear	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ask speech: ask	gerund			them = they				vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic
2	swear not said to happen	to-infinitive		loyalty	her = she				vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent loyalty=Eventuality

Option 4

By compelling them to swear fealty to her and her son Iarlaid

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 compelling	mark
2	compelling	compel	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 compelling	obj
4	to	to	PART	_	5 swear	mark
5	swear	swear	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 compelling	xcomp
6	fealty	fealty	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 swear	obj
7	to	to	ADP	_	8 her	case
8	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 swear	obl
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 son	cc
10	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 son	nmod:poss
11	son	son	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 her	conj
12	Iarlaid	Iarlaid	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 son	appos

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	compel	gerund		them = they					vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent they=Patient clause=Result
2	swear	to-infinitive		fealty	her = she				vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent fealty=Eventuality

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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