Exam question 2 · Lapland Fairy Tales, Patto and the Stalos, part 59: Patto…

Upon what manner did the Sodno brothers ascertain the location of their sister?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: manner, Sodno brothers · What happens: do, ascertain · To what, where: location

This is exam question 2 of lesson 1193 «Lapland Fairy Tales, Patto and the Stalos, part 59: Patto kills Stalo and the Sodnos rescue Lyma» 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	Upon	upon	ADP	_	2 what	case
2	what	what	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 ascertain	obl
3	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 did	nsubj
4	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 what	acl:relcl
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 brothers	det
6	Sodno	Sodno	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 brothers	compound
7	brothers	brother	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 ascertain	nsubj
8	ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 location	det
10	location	location	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 ascertain	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 sister	case
12	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 sister	nmod:poss
13	sister	sister	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 location	nmod
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	do	past	manner						vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	ascertain	present	the Sodno brothers	the location of brothers's sister					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent location=Topic

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

By following the ball of thread that Lyma had let trail behind her across the snow to the ogres' house

The tree, 21 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 following	mark
2	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 ball	det
4	ball	ball	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 following	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 thread	case
6	thread	thread	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 ball	nmod
7	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 let	obj
8	Lyma	Lyma	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 let	nsubj
9	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 let	aux
10	let	let	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	4 ball	acl:relcl
11	trail	trail	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 let	obj
12	behind	behind	ADP	_	13 her	case
13	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 let	obj
14	across	across	ADP	_	16 snow	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 snow	det
16	snow	snow	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 let	obl
17	to	to	ADP	_	21 house	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 ogres	det
19	ogres	ogre	NOUN	Number=Plur	21 house	nmod:poss
20	'	's	PART	_	19 ogres	case
21	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 following	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund		the ball of thread		the ogres's house			vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent ball=Theme to house=Trajectory
2	let	past · perfect	Lyma	the ball of thread		the snow			tree rules

Option 2

By following the sled tracks through the snow

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 following	mark
2	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 tracks	det
4	sled	sled	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 tracks	compound
5	tracks	track	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 following	obj
6	through	through	ADP	_	8 snow	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 snow	det
8	snow	snow	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 following	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund		the sled tracks		the snow			vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent track=Theme through snow=Trajectory

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

By searching every valley and hill for many days, asking travellers and birds whether they had seen their sister pass by

The tree, 21 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 searching	mark
2	searching	search	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	4 valley	det
4	valley	valley	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 searching	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 hill	cc
6	hill	hill	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 valley	conj
7	for	for	ADP	_	9 days	case
8	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 days	amod
9	days	day	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 searching	obl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 asking	punct
11	asking	ask	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 searching	conj
12	travellers	traveller	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 asking	obj
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 birds	cc
14	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 travellers	conj
15	whether	whether	SCONJ	_	18 seen	mark
16	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	18 seen	nsubj
17	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	18 seen	aux
18	seen	see	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	11 asking	ccomp
19	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	20 sister	nmod:poss
20	sister	sister	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 pass	nsubj
21	pass	pass	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	18 seen	xcomp
22	by	by	ADP	_	21 pass	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	search	gerund		every valley and hill	day	vn search-35.2 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent valley=Location
2	ask speech: ask	gerund		travellers and birds		vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent traveller=Recipient clause=Topic
3	see	past · perfect	travellers = traveller			vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus
4	pass by	infinitive	travellers's sister			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

By following the ball of thread that trailed across the snow

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 following	mark
2	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 ball	det
4	ball	ball	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 following	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 thread	case
6	thread	thread	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 ball	nmod
7	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 trailed	nsubj
8	trailed	trail	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 ball	acl:relcl
9	across	across	ADP	_	11 snow	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 snow	det
11	snow	snow	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 trailed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund		the ball of thread					vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ball=Theme
2	trail	past	the ball of thread			the snow			vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent across snow=Trajectory

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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