Exam question 2 · Celtic Fairy Tales, Gorla of the Flocks, part 50: Covan fe…

State the reason the cows failed to be harmed by the burning moor and the flooding river.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: cows, burning moor · What happens: fail, not harm, burn · To what, where: State reason

This is exam question 2 of lesson 1184 «Celtic Fairy Tales, Gorla of the Flocks, part 50: Covan feeds the raven, herds the cows through fire and flood, and is sheltered by two friends» 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 reason	compound
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 cows	det
5	cows	cow	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 failed	nsubj
6	failed	fail	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 reason	acl:relcl
7	to	to	PART	_	9 harmed	mark
8	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	9 harmed	aux:pass
9	harmed	harm	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 failed	xcomp
10	by	by	ADP	_	13 moor	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 moor	det
12	burning	burn	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	13 moor	amod
13	moor	moor	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 harmed	obl
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	17 river	cc
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 river	det
16	flooding	flooding	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 river	compound
17	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 moor	conj
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 reason	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	fail	past	the cows	the State reason not said here	tree rules
2	not harm	to-infinitive · passive	the burning moor and the flooding river		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer
3	burn	gerund			vn light_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=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

The cows were protected by a spell cast by the golden-haired maiden who walked beside them through the fire and the flood.

The tree, 23 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 cows	det
2	cows	cow	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 protected	nsubj:pass
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 protected	aux:pass
4	protected	protect	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 spell	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 spell	det
7	spell	spell	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 protected	obl
8	cast	cast	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 spell	acl
9	by	by	ADP	_	14 maiden	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 maiden	det
11	golden	golden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 maiden	amod
12	-	-	PUNCT	_	11 golden	punct
13	haired	haired	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 maiden	amod
14	maiden	maiden	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 cast	obl
15	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	16 walked	nsubj
16	walked	walk	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	14 maiden	acl:relcl
17	beside	beside	ADP	_	18 them	case
18	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	16 walked	obl
19	through	through	ADP	_	21 fire	case
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 fire	det
21	fire	fire	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 walked	obl
22	and	and	CCONJ	_	24 flood	cc
23	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	24 flood	det
24	flood	flood	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 fire	conj
25	.	.	PUNCT	_	4 protected	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	protect	past · passive	a spell	the cows			vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Beneficiary
2	cast	participle		a spell not said here		by the golden haired maiden	vn throw-17.1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent by maiden=Destination
3	walk	past	the golden haired maiden		the fire and the flood	beside cows = cow	vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme beside they=Trajectory

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

They obeyed Covan's calm example and were led forward.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 obeyed	nsubj
2	obeyed	obey	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	Covan	Covan	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 example	nmod:poss
4	's	's	PART	_	3 Covan	case
5	calm	calm	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 example	amod
6	example	example	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 obeyed	obj
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 led	cc
8	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 led	aux:pass
9	led	lead	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 obeyed	conj
10	forward	forward	ADV	_	9 led	advmod
11	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 obeyed	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	obey	past	They	Covan's calm example		vn abide_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent example=Theme
2	lead	past · passive	They not said here		forward property	vn result-27.2 «NP V PP»
3	exemplify		Covan			nom example «cognition transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

They followed Covan's steadfast example and were guided onward.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 followed	nsubj
2	followed	follow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	Covan	Covan	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 example	nmod:poss
4	's	's	PART	_	3 Covan	case
5	steadfast	steadfast	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 example	amod
6	example	example	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 followed	obj
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 guided	cc
8	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 guided	aux:pass
9	guided	guide	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 followed	conj
10	onward	onward	ADV	_	9 guided	advmod
11	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 followed	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	past	They	Covan's steadfast example		vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent example=Theme
2	guide	past · passive	They not said here		onward property	vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»
3	exemplify		Covan			nom example «cognition transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

They copied Covan's steady lead and were guided on.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 copied	nsubj
2	copied	copy	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	Covan	Covan	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 lead	nmod:poss
4	's	's	PART	_	3 Covan	case
5	steady	steady	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 lead	amod
6	lead	lead	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 copied	obj
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 guided	cc
8	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 guided	aux:pass
9	guided	guide	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 copied	conj
10	on	on	ADP	_	9 guided	compound:prt
11	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 copied	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	copy	past	They	Covan's steady lead					vn scribble-25.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lead=Theme
2	guide on	past · passive	They not said here						vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»

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/1184-pg3027-part50/e2/