Exam question 3 · Celtic Fairy Tales, Gorla of the Flocks, part 50: Covan fe…

Describe the manner in which Covan responded to the youths who urged him to attend to the cows.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, Covan, youths · What happens: describe, respond, urge, attend · To what, where: manner, Covan

This is exam question 3 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	Describe	describe	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 manner	det
3	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Describe	obj
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 responded	obl
6	Covan	Covan	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 responded	nsubj
7	responded	respond	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 manner	acl:relcl
8	to	to	ADP	_	10 youths	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 youths	det
10	youths	youth	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 responded	obl
11	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 urged	nsubj
12	urged	urge	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 youths	acl:relcl
13	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 urged	iobj
14	to	to	PART	_	15 attend	mark
15	attend	attend	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 urged	xcomp
16	to	to	ADP	_	18 cows	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 cows	det
18	cows	cow	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 attend	obl
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Describe	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	other	roles by
1	describe	imperative	you not said here	the manner				vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent manner=Theme
2	respond speech: other	past	Covan			the manner	to the youths	vn respond-113 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to youth=Theme
3	urge	past	the youths		Covan			vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic
4	attend not said to happen	to-infinitive	the youths not said here				to the cows	vn caring-75.2-1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent to cow=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

He refused to hurry, judging that the youth should act instead.

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 refused	nsubj
2	refused	refuse	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 hurry	mark
4	hurry	hurry	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 refused	xcomp
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 judging	punct
6	judging	judge	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 hurry	advcl
7	that	that	SCONJ	_	11 act	mark
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 youth	det
9	youth	youth	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 act	nsubj
10	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	11 act	aux
11	act	act	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 judging	advcl
12	instead	instead	ADV	_	11 act	advmod
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 refused	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	refuse	past	He		vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	not hurry	to-infinitive	He not said here		vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	judge	gerund	He not said here		vn estimate-34.2-1-1 «NP V whether/if S»: agent=Agent
4	act	should	the youth	instead property	vn act-114-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

He declined to hasten, reasoning that the youth ought to act instead.

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 declined	nsubj
2	declined	decline	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 hasten	mark
4	hasten	hasten	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 declined	xcomp
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 reasoning	punct
6	reasoning	reason	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 hasten	advcl
7	that	that	SCONJ	_	12 act	mark
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 youth	det
9	youth	youth	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 act	nsubj
10	ought	ought	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	12 act	aux
11	to	to	PART	_	12 act	mark
12	act	act	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 reasoning	advcl
13	instead	instead	ADV	_	12 act	advmod
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 declined	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	decline	past	He		vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	not hasten	to-infinitive	He not said here		vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
3	reason	gerund	He not said here		vn deduce-97.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
4	act	ought	the youth	instead property	vn act-114-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

He declined to hasten, reasoning that the youth ought to act instead, and he sat down to rest in the shade of the great oak tree.

The tree, 26 words

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 declined	nsubj
2	declined	decline	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 hasten	mark
4	hasten	hasten	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 declined	xcomp
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 reasoning	punct
6	reasoning	reason	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 hasten	advcl
7	that	that	SCONJ	_	12 act	mark
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 youth	det
9	youth	youth	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 act	nsubj
10	ought	ought	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	12 act	aux
11	to	to	PART	_	12 act	mark
12	act	act	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 reasoning	advcl
13	instead	instead	ADV	_	12 act	advmod
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 sat	punct
15	and	and	CCONJ	_	17 sat	cc
16	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	17 sat	nsubj
17	sat	sit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 declined	conj
18	down	down	ADP	_	17 sat	compound:prt
19	to	to	PART	_	20 rest	mark
20	rest	rest	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	17 sat	advcl
21	in	in	ADP	_	23 shade	case
22	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	23 shade	det
23	shade	shade	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 rest	obl
24	of	of	ADP	_	28 tree	case
25	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	28 tree	det
26	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	28 tree	amod
27	oak	oak	NOUN	Number=Sing	28 tree	compound
28	tree	tree	NOUN	Number=Sing	23 shade	nmod
29	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 declined	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	decline	past	He				vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	not hasten	to-infinitive	He not said here				vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
3	reason	gerund	He not said here				vn deduce-97.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
4	act	ought	the youth			instead property	vn act-114-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
5	sit down	past	youth				vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent
6	rest	to-infinitive	youth not said here		the shade of the great oak tree		vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in shade=Location
7	shade			the great oak tree			nom shade «state transitive»: of=patient

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

He declined to hasten at first, reasoning that the youth ought to act instead, and only later went after the cows when the rain began.

The tree, 25 words

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 declined	nsubj
2	declined	decline	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 hasten	mark
4	hasten	hasten	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 declined	xcomp
5	at	at	ADP	_	6 first	case
6	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	4 hasten	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 reasoning	punct
8	reasoning	reason	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 declined	advcl
9	that	that	SCONJ	_	14 act	mark
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 youth	det
11	youth	youth	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 act	nsubj
12	ought	ought	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	14 act	aux
13	to	to	PART	_	14 act	mark
14	act	act	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 reasoning	advcl
15	instead	instead	ADV	_	14 act	advmod
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	20 went	punct
17	and	and	CCONJ	_	20 went	cc
18	only	only	ADV	_	19 later	advmod
19	later	late	ADV	Degree=Cmp	20 went	advmod
20	went	go	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 declined	conj
21	after	after	ADP	_	23 cows	case
22	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	23 cows	det
23	cows	cow	NOUN	Number=Plur	20 went	obl
24	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	27 began	advmod
25	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	26 rain	det
26	rain	rain	NOUN	Number=Sing	27 began	nsubj
27	began	begin	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	20 went	advcl
28	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 declined	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	when	other	roles by
1	decline	past	He			vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	not hasten	to-infinitive	He not said here			vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at first=Trajectory
3	reason	gerund	He not said here			vn deduce-97.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
4	act	ought	the youth		instead property	vn act-114-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
5	go	past	He not said here	after the cows	late property	vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
6	begin	past	the rain			vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=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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