Exam question 2 · Celtic Tales, Covan son of Gorla: Covan catches the roe, d…

To what extent did the raven's assistance contribute to the retrieval of the duck?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: assistance, raven · What happens: contribute, assist, retrieve · To what, where: duck

This is exam question 2 of lesson 1185 «Celtic Tales, Covan son of Gorla: Covan catches the roe, duck and salmon and wins back his sister» 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	To	to	ADP	_	2 what	case
2	what	what	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 contribute	obl
3	extent	extent	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 did	nsubj
4	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 contribute	aux
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 raven	det
6	raven	raven	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 assistance	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 raven	case
8	assistance	assistance	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 contribute	nsubj
9	contribute	contribute	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
10	to	to	ADP	_	12 retrieval	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 retrieval	det
12	retrieval	retrieval	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 contribute	obl
13	of	of	ADP	_	15 duck	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 duck	det
15	duck	duck	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 retrieval	nmod
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	9 contribute	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	contribute	past · do-support	the raven's assistance		to the retrieval of the duck	vn contribute-13.2-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to what=Recipient
2	assist		the raven			nom assistance «act transitive»: poss=agent
3	retrieve			the duck		nom retrieval «process transitive»: of=patient

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

It drove the duck toward him

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 drove	nsubj
2	drove	drive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 duck	det
4	duck	duck	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 drove	obj
5	toward	toward	ADP	_	6 him	case
6	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 drove	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	drive	past	It	the duck				toward duck	vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent duck=Theme toward he=Trajectory

Option 2

It chased the duck toward the shore

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 chased	nsubj
2	chased	chase	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 duck	det
4	duck	duck	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 chased	obj
5	toward	toward	ADP	_	7 shore	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 shore	det
7	shore	shore	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 chased	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	chase	past	It	the duck		the shore			vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent duck=Theme toward shore=Trajectory

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It lifted the duck to Covan's feet

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 lifted	nsubj
2	lifted	lift	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 duck	det
4	duck	duck	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 lifted	obj
5	to	to	ADP	_	8 feet	case
6	Covan	Covan	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 feet	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 Covan	case
8	feet	foot	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 lifted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lift	past	It	the duck		Covan's feet			vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent duck=Theme to foot=Destination

Option 4

It swooped down and carried the duck over the river to the bank

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 swooped	nsubj
2	swooped	swoop	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	down	down	ADP	_	2 swooped	compound:prt
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 carried	cc
5	carried	carry	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 swooped	conj
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 duck	det
7	duck	duck	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 carried	obj
8	over	over	ADP	_	10 river	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 river	det
10	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 carried	obl
11	to	to	ADP	_	13 bank	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 bank	det
13	bank	bank	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 carried	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	swoop down	past	It						tree rules
2	carry	past		the duck		the river		to the bank	vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent duck=Theme to bank=Destination

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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