Exam question 1 · Contes des Fées, The Adventures of Covan the Brown-Haired,…

Which of the following describes the cause of Ardan's transformation into stone?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Ardan · What happens: follow, describe, cause, transform · To what, where: cause, stone, transformation

This is exam question 1 of lesson 1183 «Contes des Fées, The Adventures of Covan the Brown-Haired, part 49: Ardan herds the old man's cows and is turned to stone» 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	5 describes	nsubj
2	of	of	SCONJ	_	5 describes	mark
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 describes	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 describes	nsubj
5	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 cause	det
7	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 describes	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	11 transformation	case
9	Ardan	Ardan	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 transformation	nmod:poss
10	's	's	PART	_	9 Ardan	case
11	transformation	transformation	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 cause	nmod
12	into	into	ADP	_	13 stone	case
13	stone	stone	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 describes	obl
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 describes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	describe	present		the cause of Ardan's transformation	stone	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent cause=Theme
3	cause			Ardan's transformation		nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient
4	transform		Ardan			nom transformation «event 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

he broke the rules

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 broke	nsubj
2	broke	break	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 rules	det
4	rules	rule	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 broke	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	break	past	he	the rules					vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer rule=Patient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

the curse placed on him by the raven's song

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 curse	det
2	curse	curse	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	placed	place	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 curse	acl
4	on	on	ADP	_	5 him	case
5	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 placed	obl
6	by	by	ADP	_	10 song	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 raven	det
8	raven	raven	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 song	nmod:poss
9	's	's	PART	_	8 raven	case
10	song	song	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 placed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	place	participle		the curse not said here				on him = he; by the raven's song	vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent on he=Destination
2	sing		the raven						nom song «communication intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

his failure to fulfil the terms of his service

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 failure	nmod:poss
2	failure	failure	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 fulfil	nsubj
3	to	to	PART	_	4 fulfil	mark
4	fulfil	fulfil	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 terms	det
6	terms	term	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 fulfil	obj
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 service	case
8	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 service	nmod:poss
9	service	service	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 terms	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	fulfil	to-infinitive	his failure	the terms of failure's service	tree rules
2	fail		his = he		nom failure «act intransitive»: poss=agent
3	term			failure's service	nom term «communication transitive»: of=patient
4	service		failure		nom service «act transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

his refusal to accept the old man's offer

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 refusal	nmod:poss
2	refusal	refusal	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 accept	nsubj
3	to	to	PART	_	4 accept	mark
4	accept	accept	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 man	det
6	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 man	amod
7	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 offer	nmod:poss
8	's	's	PART	_	7 man	case
9	offer	offer	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 accept	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	accept	to-infinitive	his refusal	the old man's offer	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent offer=Theme
2	refuse		his = he		nom refusal «communication transitive»: poss=agent
3	offer		the old man		nom offer «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/1183-pg3027-part49/e1/