Exam question 4 · Brazilian Tales, The Yara, part 17: a voice in the forest…

Which observation did Alonzo record upon his final return to the riverbank?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: observation · What happens: do, return · To what, where: Alonzo record

This is exam question 4 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	Which	which	DET	PronType=Int	2 observation	det
2	observation	observation	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 did	nsubj
3	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	Alonzo	Alonzo	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 record	compound
5	record	record	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 did	obj
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	9 return	case
7	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 return	nmod:poss
8	final	final	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 return	amod
9	return	return	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 did	obl
10	to	to	ADP	_	12 riverbank	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 riverbank	det
12	riverbank	riverbank	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 return	nmod
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 did	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	do	past	which observation	Alonzo record				upon observation's final return to the riverbank	vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent record=Eventuality
2	return		observation					to the riverbank	nom return «communication intransitive»: poss=agent to=obl

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

A figure in white waving her arms to and fro above the ferns while the moon shone brightly

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 figure	det
2	figure	figure	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 fro	nsubj
3	in	in	ADP	_	4 white	case
4	white	white	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 figure	nmod
5	waving	wave	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 fro	csubj
6	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 arms	nmod:poss
7	arms	arm	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 waving	obj
8	to	to	ADP	_	5 waving	fixed
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 fro	cc
10	fro	fro	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
11	above	above	ADP	_	13 ferns	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 ferns	det
13	ferns	fern	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 fro	obl
14	while	while	SCONJ	_	17 shone	mark
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 moon	det
16	moon	moon	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 shone	nsubj
17	shone	shine	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 fro	advcl
18	brightly	brightly	ADV	_	17 shone	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	wave	gerund		figure's arms			vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent arm=Patient
2	fro	infinitive	a figure in white		the ferns		tree rules
3	shine	past	the moon			brightly property	vn light_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

A dark bird flying low above

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 bird	det
2	dark	dark	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 bird	amod
3	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	flying	fly	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 bird	acl
5	low	low	ADV	Degree=Pos	4 flying	advmod
6	above	above	ADV	_	4 flying	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fly	gerund	a dark bird not said here					above, low property	vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

A figure in white waving her arms

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 figure	det
2	figure	figure	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	4 white	case
4	white	white	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 figure	nmod
5	waving	wave	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 figure	acl
6	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 arms	nmod:poss
7	arms	arm	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 waving	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	wave	gerund	a figure in white not said here	her arms					vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent arm=Patient

Option 4

A tall woman in a white robe, with golden hair streaming behind her, waving both arms wildly to and fro over the water

The tree, 23 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 woman	det
2	tall	tall	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 woman	amod
3	woman	woman	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	7 robe	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 robe	det
6	white	white	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 robe	amod
7	robe	robe	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 woman	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 hair	punct
9	with	with	ADP	_	11 hair	case
10	golden	golden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 hair	amod
11	hair	hair	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 woman	conj
12	streaming	stream	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	11 hair	acl
13	behind	behind	ADP	_	14 her	case
14	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 streaming	obl
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 waving	punct
16	waving	wave	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	12 streaming	conj
17	both	both	DET	PronType=Tot	18 arms	det
18	arms	arm	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 waving	obj
19	wildly	wildly	ADV	_	16 waving	advmod
20	to	to	ADP	_	19 wildly	fixed
21	and	and	CCONJ	_	22 fro	cc
22	fro	fro	ADV	_	19 wildly	conj
23	over	over	ADP	_	25 water	case
24	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	25 water	det
25	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 streaming	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	stream	gerund	golden hair not said here			the water		behind her = she	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme behind she=Location
2	wave	gerund	golden hair not said here	both arms				wildly property	vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent arm=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/1216-pg3282-part17/e4/