Exam question 3 · Brazilian Tales, The Yara, part 17: a voice in the forest…

By what means did Julia propose to counteract the Yara's influence?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Julia · What happens: mean, propose, counteract · To what, where: influence

This is exam question 3 of lesson 1216 «Brazilian Tales, The Yara, part 17: a voice in the forest and a promise» 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=Rel	6 propose	obl
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 what	acl:relcl
4	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 propose	aux
5	Julia	Julia	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 propose	nsubj
6	propose	propose	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
7	to	to	PART	_	8 counteract	mark
8	counteract	counteract	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 propose	xcomp
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 Yara	det
10	Yara	Yara	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 influence	nmod:poss
11	's	's	PART	_	10 Yara	case
12	influence	influence	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 counteract	obj
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 propose	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	mean	present			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
2	propose	past · do-support	Julia		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	counteract	to-infinitive	Julia not said here	the Yara's influence	vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent influence=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

Singing softly into a sea-shell while standing with his back to the river and his eyes closed

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Singing	sing	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	19 closed	csubj:pass
2	softly	softly	ADV	_	1 Singing	advmod
3	into	into	ADP	_	7 shell	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 shell	det
5	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 shell	compound
6	-	-	PUNCT	_	5 sea	punct
7	shell	shell	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Singing	obl
8	while	while	SCONJ	_	9 standing	mark
9	standing	stand	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	1 Singing	advcl
10	with	with	ADP	_	12 back	case
11	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 back	nmod:poss
12	back	back	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 standing	obl
13	to	to	ADP	_	15 river	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 river	det
15	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 standing	obl
16	and	and	CCONJ	_	18 eyes	cc
17	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	18 eyes	nmod:poss
18	eyes	eye	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 river	conj
19	closed	close	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	other	roles by
1	sing speech: express	gerund		a sea shell	softly property	vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent into shell=Recipient
2	stand	gerund			with his back; to the river and his eyes	vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	close	participle	Singing			vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 2

Holding a cross to his chest

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Holding	hold	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 cross	det
3	cross	cross	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Holding	obj
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 chest	case
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 chest	nmod:poss
6	chest	chest	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Holding	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hold	gerund		a cross				to his chest	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cross=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Singing softly into a sea-shell

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Singing	sing	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	softly	softly	ADV	_	1 Singing	advmod
3	into	into	ADP	_	7 shell	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 shell	det
5	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 shell	compound
6	-	-	PUNCT	_	5 sea	punct
7	shell	shell	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Singing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sing speech: express	gerund				a sea shell		softly property	vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent into shell=Recipient

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

Keeping the sea-shell hidden in a box and never touching it until the Yara has gone away forever

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Keeping	keep	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 shell	det
3	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 shell	compound
4	-	-	PUNCT	_	3 sea	punct
5	shell	shell	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Keeping	obj
6	hidden	hide	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 shell	acl
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 box	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 box	det
9	box	box	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 hidden	obl
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 touching	cc
11	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	12 touching	advmod
12	touching	touch	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	1 Keeping	conj
13	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 touching	obj
14	until	until	SCONJ	_	18 gone	mark
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 Yara	det
16	Yara	Yara	PROPN	Number=Sing	18 gone	nsubj
17	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	18 gone	aux
18	gone	go	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	12 touching	advcl
19	away	away	ADV	_	18 gone	advmod
20	forever	forever	ADV	_	18 gone	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	keep	gerund		the sea shell			vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shell=Theme
2	hide	participle		the sea shell not said here	a box		vn concealment-16-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in box=Location
3	not touch	gerund		shell			vn contiguous_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme it=Co-Theme
4	go away	present · perfect	the Yara			away, forever property	vn disappearance-48.2-1 «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/1216-pg3282-part17/e3/