Exam question 2 · Folk Tales, The Sacred Milk of Koumongoé, part 2: Thakane…

Which creature first addressed the travellers with the formal question concerning the child?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: creature, formal question · What happens: address, concern · To what, where: travellers, child

This is exam question 2 of lesson 1224 «Folk Tales, The Sacred Milk of Koumongoé, part 2: Thakane is taken to the ogre, and the animals ask why» 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 creature	det
2	creature	creature	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 addressed	nsubj
3	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	4 addressed	advmod
4	addressed	address	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 travellers	det
6	travellers	traveller	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 addressed	obj
7	with	with	ADP	_	10 question	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 question	det
9	formal	formal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 question	amod
10	question	question	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 addressed	obl
11	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 question	acl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 child	det
13	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 concerning	obj
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 addressed	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	address	past	which creature	the travellers				with the formal question; first property	vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent traveller=Destination with question=Theme
2	concern	gerund	the formal question not said here	the child					vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus child=Experiencer

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 gazelle, lifting its slender head

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 gazelle	det
2	gazelle	gazelle	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 lifting	punct
4	lifting	lift	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 gazelle	acl
5	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 head	nmod:poss
6	slender	slender	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 head	amod
7	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 lifting	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lift	gerund	the gazelle not said here	gazelle's slender head					vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The rabbit, standing upon its hind legs

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 rabbit	det
2	rabbit	rabbit	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 standing	punct
4	standing	stand	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 rabbit	acl
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	8 legs	case
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 legs	nmod:poss
7	hind	hind	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 legs	amod
8	legs	leg	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 standing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	stand	gerund	the rabbit not said here			rabbit's hind legs			vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent upon leg=Location

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

The rabbit

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 rabbit	det
2	rabbit	rabbit	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

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

Option 4

The elands, bowing on their knees

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 elands	det
2	elands	eland	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 bowing	nsubj
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 elands	punct
4	bowing	bow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	on	on	ADP	_	7 knees	case
6	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 knees	nmod:poss
7	knees	knee	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 bowing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bow	gerund	the elands			elands's knees			vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on knee=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/1224-pg3282-part25/e2/