Exam question 3 · Eastern Stories and Legends, Nur Mahomed, part 55: the old…

What was the initial cause of the young man's arrest, as described in the narrative?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: young man · What happens: be, describe, arrest · To what, where: initial cause, narrative

This is exam question 3 of lesson 1254 «Eastern Stories and Legends, Nur Mahomed, part 55: the old woman's foundling becomes a soldier, and a dog dies after a meal» 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	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	5 cause	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 cause	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 cause	det
4	initial	initial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 cause	amod
5	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	of	of	ADP	_	11 arrest	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 man	det
8	young	young	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 man	amod
9	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 arrest	nmod:poss
10	's	's	PART	_	9 man	case
11	arrest	arrest	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 cause	nmod
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 described	punct
13	as	as	SCONJ	_	14 described	mark
14	described	describe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 cause	acl
15	in	in	ADP	_	17 narrative	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 narrative	det
17	narrative	narrative	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 described	obl
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 cause	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	is a	past		the initial cause		of the young man's arrest	tree rules
2	describe	participle		the initial cause not said here	the narrative		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent
3	arrest		the young man				nom arrest «act transitive»: poss=agent

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

He struck the pedlar when the donkey ate his cabbages

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 struck	nsubj
2	struck	strike	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 pedlar	det
4	pedlar	pedlar	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 struck	obj
5	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	8 ate	advmod
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 donkey	det
7	donkey	donkey	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 ate	nsubj
8	ate	eat	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 struck	advcl
9	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 cabbages	nmod:poss
10	cabbages	cabbage	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 ate	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	strike	past	He	the pedlar					vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pedlar=Patient
2	eat	past	the donkey	donkey's cabbages					vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cabbage=Patient

Option 2

He attacked the pedlar's servant after the donkey ran into his field

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 attacked	nsubj
2	attacked	attack	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 pedlar	det
4	pedlar	pedlar	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 servant	nmod:poss
5	's	's	PART	_	4 pedlar	case
6	servant	servant	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 attacked	obj
7	after	after	SCONJ	_	10 ran	mark
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 donkey	det
9	donkey	donkey	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 ran	nsubj
10	ran	run	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 attacked	advcl
11	into	into	ADP	_	13 field	case
12	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 field	nmod:poss
13	field	field	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 ran	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	attack	past	He	the pedlar's servant					vn attack-60.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent servant=Patient
2	run	past	the donkey					into donkey's field result	vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme into field=Result

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

He threatened to cut off the pedlar's donkey's tail after it ate his cabbages

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 threatened	nsubj
2	threatened	threaten	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 cut	mark
4	cut	cut	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 threatened	xcomp
5	off	off	ADP	_	4 cut	compound:prt
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 pedlar	det
7	pedlar	pedlar	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 donkey	nmod:poss
8	's	's	PART	_	7 pedlar	case
9	donkey	donkey	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 tail	nmod:poss
10	's	's	PART	_	9 donkey	case
11	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 cut	obj
12	after	after	SCONJ	_	14 ate	mark
13	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 ate	nsubj
14	ate	eat	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 cut	advcl
15	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	16 cabbages	nmod:poss
16	cabbages	cabbage	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 ate	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	threaten	past	He		tree rules
2	cut off not said to happen	to-infinitive	He not said here	the pedlar's donkey's tail	vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector tail=Eventuality
3	eat	past	tail	donkey's cabbages	vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cabbage=Patient

Option 4

He stole the pedlar's goods after the donkey wandered into his field

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 stole	nsubj
2	stole	steal	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 pedlar	det
4	pedlar	pedlar	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 goods	nmod:poss
5	's	's	PART	_	4 pedlar	case
6	goods	goods	NOUN	Number=Ptan	2 stole	obj
7	after	after	SCONJ	_	10 wandered	mark
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 donkey	det
9	donkey	donkey	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 wandered	nsubj
10	wandered	wander	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 stole	advcl
11	into	into	ADP	_	13 field	case
12	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 field	nmod:poss
13	field	field	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 wandered	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	steal	past	He	the pedlar's goods					vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location goods=Theme
2	wander	past	the donkey			donkey's field			vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into field=Destination

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.

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