Exam question 1 · Myths and Legends of the Sioux, How Ball-carrier Finished…

Which of the following describes the manner in which Ball-Carrier overcame the Bad One and the servant?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Ball · What happens: follow, describe, overcome · To what, where: manner, Bad One

This is exam question 1 of lesson 1211 «Myths and Legends of the Sioux, How Ball-carrier Finished His Task, part 12: Lung-Woman is scalded and the Bad One drowns» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 describes	nsubj
2	of	of	SCONJ	_	5 describes	mark
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 describes	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 describes	nsubj
5	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 manner	det
7	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 describes	obj
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 which	case
9	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 overcame	obl
10	Ball	Ball	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 overcame	nsubj
11	-	-	PUNCT	_	10 Ball	punct
12	Carrier	Carrier	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 Ball	flat
13	overcame	overcome	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 manner	acl:relcl
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 One	det
15	Bad	bad	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 One	amod
16	One	one	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 overcame	obj
17	and	and	CCONJ	_	19 servant	cc
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 servant	det
19	servant	servant	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 One	conj
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 describes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	describe	present		the manner		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent manner=Theme
3	overcome	past	Ball	the Bad One and the servant	in the manner	vn exceed-90 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Pivot one=Theme in which=Attribute

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 · ✓ the right answer

By deceit and the aid of the spirits

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	2 deceit	case
2	deceit	deceit	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 aid	cc
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 aid	det
5	aid	aid	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 deceit	conj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 spirits	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 spirits	det
8	spirits	spirit	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 aid	nmod

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

Option 2

By trickery and a stolen knife

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	2 trickery	case
2	trickery	trickery	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 knife	cc
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 knife	det
5	stolen	steal	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 knife	amod
6	knife	knife	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 trickery	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	steal	participle							vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

By force and the help of his brother

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	2 force	case
2	force	force	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 help	cc
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 help	det
5	help	help	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 force	conj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 brother	case
7	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 brother	nmod:poss
8	brother	brother	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 help	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	help			his brother					nom help «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

By deceit, by the help of spirits, and by changing his shape into many animals across the land

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	2 deceit	case
2	deceit	deceit	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 help	punct
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 help	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 help	det
6	help	help	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 deceit	appos
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 spirits	case
8	spirits	spirit	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 help	nmod
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 changing	punct
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 changing	cc
11	by	by	SCONJ	_	12 changing	mark
12	changing	change	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 help	acl
13	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 shape	nmod:poss
14	shape	shape	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 changing	obj
15	into	into	ADP	_	17 animals	case
16	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 animals	amod
17	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 changing	obl
18	across	across	ADP	_	20 land	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 land	det
20	land	land	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 changing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	change	gerund	the help of spirits not said here	his shape		the land		into many animals result	vn turn-26.6.1-1 «NP V NP.patient PP.result»: agent=Agent shape=Patient into animal=Result
2	help			spirits					nom help «act transitive»: of=patient

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/1211-pg3282-part12/e1/