Exam question 3 · pg3282 tales, Father Grumbler: a fake cock, a magic switch…

Which description most precisely characterises the function of the switch as provided by the Holy Man?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: description · What happens: characteris, provide · To what, where: function

This is exam question 3 of lesson 1215 «pg3282 tales, Father Grumbler: a fake cock, a magic switch, and a new tale begins» 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	DET	PronType=Int	2 description	det
2	description	description	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 characterises	nsubj
3	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	4 precisely	advmod
4	precisely	precisely	ADV	_	5 characterises	advmod
5	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 function	det
7	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 characterises	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 switch	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 switch	det
10	switch	switch	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 function	nmod
11	as	as	SCONJ	_	12 provided	mark
12	provided	provide	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 characterises	advcl
13	by	by	ADP	_	16 Man	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 Man	det
15	Holy	Holy	PROPN	_	16 Man	compound
16	Man	Man	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 provided	obl
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	characteris	present	which description	the function of the switch				precisely property	tree rules
2	provide	participle	which description not said here					by the Holy Man	vn ensure-99 «NP V that S»: agent=Precondition

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 · ← Mova's choice

It gives blows whenever someone opens the bag

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 gives	nsubj
2	gives	give	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	blows	blow	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 gives	obj
4	whenever	whenever	ADV	PronType=Rel	6 opens	advmod
5	someone	someone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	6 opens	nsubj
6	opens	open	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 gives	advcl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 bag	det
8	bag	bag	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 opens	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	present	It	blows					vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent blow=Theme
2	open	present	someone	the bag				whenever property	vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location bag=Theme

Option 2

It strikes whoever is nearby

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 strikes	nsubj
2	strikes	strike	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	whoever	whoever	PRON	PronType=Rel	2 strikes	ccomp
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 whoever	cop
5	nearby	nearby	ADV	_	2 strikes	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	strike	present	It					nearby property	vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	is a	present		whoever					tree rules

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It administers blows when its command is spoken

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 administers	nsubj
2	administers	administer	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	blows	blow	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 administers	obj
4	when	when	SCONJ	_	8 spoken	mark
5	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 command	nmod:poss
6	command	command	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 spoken	nsubj:pass
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 spoken	aux:pass
8	spoken	speak	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 administers	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	administer	present	It	blows	vn contribute-13.2-1-1 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent blow=Theme
2	speak speech: other	present · passive		its command	tree rules
3	command		its = it		nom command «communication transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

It hits on command

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 hits	nsubj
2	hits	hit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	on	on	ADP	_	4 command	case
4	command	command	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 hits	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hit	present	It			command			vn contiguous_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=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/1215-pg3282-part16/e3/