Exam question 4 · Crimson Fairy Book, The White Doe, part 36: the buffalo di…

Which of the following correctly states the nature of the gift conferred upon the royal couple?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, state, confer · To what, where: nature, gift

This is exam question 4 of lesson 1170 «Crimson Fairy Book, The White Doe, part 36: the buffalo dies, the wife poisons herself, and a queen is promised a daughter» 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	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 states	nsubj
2	of	of	SCONJ	_	6 states	mark
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 states	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 states	nsubj
5	correctly	correctly	ADV	_	6 states	advmod
6	states	state	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 nature	det
8	nature	nature	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 states	obj
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 gift	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 gift	det
11	gift	gift	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 nature	nmod
12	conferred	confer	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 gift	acl
13	upon	upon	ADP	_	16 couple	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 couple	det
15	royal	royal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 couple	amod
16	couple	couple	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 conferred	obl
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 states	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	state speech: other	present	the nature of the gift	correctly property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent nature=Topic
3	confer	participle	the gift not said here	upon the royal couple	vn chit_chat-37.6 «NP V»: 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 · ✓ the right answer

The promise of a daughter, born after five years

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 promise	det
2	promise	promise	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 daughter	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 daughter	det
5	daughter	daughter	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 promise	nmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 born	punct
7	born	bear	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 promise	acl
8	after	after	ADP	_	10 years	case
9	five	five	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	10 years	nummod
10	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 born	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bear	participle		the promise of a daughter not said here			year		vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer
2	promise			a daughter					nom promise «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

A son and heir

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 son	det
2	son	son	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	4 heir	cc
4	heir	heir	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 son	conj

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 3

A son, born after a long illness

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 son	det
2	son	son	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 born	punct
4	born	bear	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 son	acl
5	after	after	ADP	_	8 illness	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 illness	det
7	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 illness	amod
8	illness	illness	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 born	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bear	participle		a son not said here			after a long illness		vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer

Option 4

The promise of a son who would rule the kingdom

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 promise	det
2	promise	promise	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 son	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 son	det
5	son	son	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 promise	nmod
6	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 rule	nsubj
7	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	8 rule	aux
8	rule	rule	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 promise	acl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 kingdom	det
10	kingdom	kingdom	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 rule	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rule	would	the promise of a son	the kingdom					vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent kingdom=Theme
2	promise			a son					nom promise «communication transitive»: of=patient

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/1170-pg3027-part36/e4/