Exam question 1 · Persian Tales, Prince Almas and the Simurgh, part 7: Almas…

Identify the principal action performed by the protagonist upon the monstrous creature, in order of occurrence.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, perform, order · To what, where: principal action, order, occurrence

This is exam question 1 of lesson 1206 «Persian Tales, Prince Almas and the Simurgh, part 7: Almas slays the dragon, the Simurgh spares him and the prince wins the king's trust» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 action	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 action	amod
4	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	performed	perform	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 action	acl
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 protagonist	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 protagonist	det
8	protagonist	protagonist	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 performed	obl
9	upon	upon	ADP	_	12 creature	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 creature	det
11	monstrous	monstrous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 creature	amod
12	creature	creature	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 performed	obl
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 order	punct
14	in	in	ADP	_	15 order	case
15	order	order	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obl
16	of	of	ADP	_	17 occurrence	case
17	occurrence	occurrence	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 order	nmod
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal action	order of occurrence		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent action=Theme
2	perform	participle		the principal action not said here		by the protagonist; upon the monstrous creature	vn performance-26.7 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	order			occurrence			nom order «communication 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

He cut its neck with a sword

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 cut	nsubj
2	cut	cut	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 neck	nmod:poss
4	neck	neck	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 cut	obj
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 sword	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 sword	det
7	sword	sword	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 cut	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cut	past	He	its neck				with a sword	vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent neck=Patient with sword=Instrument

Option 2

He struck its eye with his spear, then pierced its chest with arrows

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 struck	nsubj
2	struck	strike	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 eye	nmod:poss
4	eye	eye	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 struck	obj
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 spear	case
6	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 spear	nmod:poss
7	spear	spear	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 struck	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 pierced	punct
9	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	10 pierced	advmod
10	pierced	pierce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 struck	conj
11	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 chest	nmod:poss
12	chest	chest	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 pierced	obj
13	with	with	ADP	_	14 arrows	case
14	arrows	arrow	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 pierced	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	strike	past	He	its eye				with his spear	vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent eye=Patient with spear=Instrument
2	pierce	participle	He not said here	spear's chest			then	with arrows	vn poke-19-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent chest=Patient with arrow=Instrument

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

He pierced its wing and tail with arrows, then struck its head with a club

The tree, 15 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 pierced	nsubj
2	pierced	pierce	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 wing	nmod:poss
4	wing	wing	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 pierced	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 tail	cc
6	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 wing	conj
7	with	with	ADP	_	8 arrows	case
8	arrows	arrow	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 pierced	obl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 struck	punct
10	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	11 struck	advmod
11	struck	strike	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 pierced	conj
12	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 head	nmod:poss
13	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 struck	obj
14	with	with	ADP	_	16 club	case
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 club	det
16	club	club	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 struck	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pierce	past	He	its wing and tail				with arrows	vn poke-19-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent wing=Patient with arrow=Instrument
2	strike	past	He not said here	tail's head			then	with a club	vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent head=Patient with club=Instrument

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

He pierced its eye and throat with arrows, then severed its neck with his sword

The tree, 15 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 pierced	nsubj
2	pierced	pierce	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 eye	nmod:poss
4	eye	eye	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 pierced	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 throat	cc
6	throat	throat	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 eye	conj
7	with	with	ADP	_	8 arrows	case
8	arrows	arrow	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 pierced	obl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 severed	punct
10	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	11 severed	advmod
11	severed	sever	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 pierced	conj
12	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 neck	nmod:poss
13	neck	neck	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 severed	obj
14	with	with	ADP	_	16 sword	case
15	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	16 sword	nmod:poss
16	sword	sword	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 severed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pierce	past	He	its eye and throat				with arrows	vn poke-19-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent eye=Patient with arrow=Instrument
2	sever	past	He not said here	throat's neck			then	with his sword	vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent neck=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.

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