Exam question 2 · Lang's Fairy Book, The White Slipper, part 62: the king lo…

By what means was the king's life rescued from the current?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: life · What happens: be, mean, rescue · To what, where: current

This is exam question 2 of lesson 1196 «Lang's Fairy Book, The White Slipper, part 62: the king loses his slipper and a youth offers a cure» 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	By	by	ADP	_	2 what	case
2	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	9 rescued	nsubj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 what	acl:relcl
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 what	cop
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 king	det
6	king	king	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 life	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 king	case
8	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 what	nsubj
9	rescued	rescue	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	from	from	ADP	_	12 current	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 current	det
12	current	current	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 rescued	obl
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	9 rescued	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	roles by
1	is	past	the king's life		tree rules
2	mean	present			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
3	rescue	past		the current	vn steal-10.5 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent from current=Source

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

a servant pulling his hair

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 servant	det
2	servant	servant	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	pulling	pull	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 servant	acl
4	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 hair	nmod:poss
5	hair	hair	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 pulling	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pull	gerund	a servant not said here	his hair					vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hair=Theme

Option 2

a boat hook

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 hook	det
2	boat	boat	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 hook	compound
3	hook	hook	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

a swimmer seizing his tunic

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 swimmer	det
2	swimmer	swimmer	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	seizing	seize	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 swimmer	acl
4	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 tunic	nmod:poss
5	tunic	tunic	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 seizing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	seize	gerund	a swimmer not said here	his tunic					vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tunic=Theme

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

a sailor grabbing his arm

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 sailor	det
2	sailor	sailor	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	grabbing	grab	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 sailor	acl
4	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 arm	nmod:poss
5	arm	arm	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 grabbing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	grab	gerund	a sailor not said here	his arm					vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent arm=Theme

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/1196-pg3027-part62/e2/