Exam question 2 · Myths and Legends of the Sioux, How Ball-carrier Finished…

Which of the following describes the principal means by which Ball-Carrier defeated the sister-in-law in the contest?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: principal, Ball · What happens: follow, describe, mean, defeat · To what, where: sister, law · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 2 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	obj
2	of	of	SCONJ	_	5 describes	mark
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 following	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 describes	nsubj
5	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 means	advcl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 principal	det
7	principal	principal	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 means	nsubj
8	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	by	by	ADP	_	10 which	case
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	14 defeated	obl
11	Ball	Ball	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 defeated	nsubj
12	-	-	PUNCT	_	11 Ball	punct
13	Carrier	Carrier	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 Ball	flat
14	defeated	defeat	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 means	ccomp
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 sister	det
16	sister	sister	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 defeated	obj
17	-	-	PUNCT	_	20 law	punct
18	in	in	ADP	_	20 law	case
19	-	-	PUNCT	_	18 in	punct
20	law	law	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 sister	nmod
21	in	in	ADP	_	23 contest	case
22	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	23 contest	det
23	contest	contest	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 defeated	obl
24	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 means	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund					vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	describe	present					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent which=Theme
3	mean	present	the principal				vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
4	defeat	past	Ball	the sister	law	in the contest	tree rules

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 running very fast

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 running	mark
2	running	run	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	very	very	ADV	_	4 fast	advmod
4	fast	fast	ADV	Degree=Pos	2 running	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	run	gerund						fast property	vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

By disguising as a fast swallow in the sky

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 disguising	mark
2	disguising	disguise	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	as	as	ADP	_	6 swallow	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 swallow	det
5	fast	fast	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 swallow	amod
6	swallow	swallow	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 disguising	obl
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 sky	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 sky	det
9	sky	sky	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 disguising	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	disguise	gerund						as a fast swallow; in the sky	vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent in sky=Theme

Option 3

By turning into a quick wolf and biting her

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 turning	mark
2	turning	turn	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	into	into	ADP	_	6 wolf	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 wolf	det
5	quick	quick	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 wolf	amod
6	wolf	wolf	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 turning	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 biting	cc
8	biting	bite	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 turning	conj
9	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 biting	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	turn	gerund				a quick wolf			vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme into wolf=Trajectory
2	bite	gerund		her = she					vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Patient

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

By transforming himself into a swift humming bird

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 transforming	mark
2	transforming	transform	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	himself	himself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	2 transforming	obj
4	into	into	ADP	_	8 bird	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 bird	det
6	swift	swift	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 humming	compound
7	humming	hum	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 bird	amod
8	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 transforming	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	transform	gerund		himself = he				into a humming bird result	vn turn-26.6.1 «NP V NP.patient PP.result»: agent=Agent himself=Patient into bird=Result
2	hum	gerund							vn bulge-47.5.3 «NP V»: agent=Location

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/e2/