Exam question 1 · Indian Tales, Tale of a Tortoise and of a Mischievous Monk…

Which of the following best describes the outcome of the tug-of-war between the elephant and the whale?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, describe · To what, where: outcome

This is exam question 1 of lesson 1258 «Indian Tales, Tale of a Tortoise and of a Mischievous Monkey, part 59: the clever tortoise tricks an elephant and a whale into a tug-of-war» 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	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 describes	obj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 best	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 best	det
4	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 best	case
5	best	good	ADJ	Degree=Sup	6 describes	nmod
6	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 outcome	det
8	outcome	outcome	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 describes	obj
9	of	of	ADP	_	15 war	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 war	det
11	tug	tug	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 war	nsubj
12	-	-	PUNCT	_	15 war	punct
13	of	of	ADP	_	15 war	case
14	-	-	PUNCT	_	13 of	punct
15	war	war	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 outcome	nmod
16	between	between	ADP	_	18 elephant	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 elephant	det
18	elephant	elephant	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 war	nmod
19	and	and	CCONJ	_	21 whale	cc
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 whale	det
21	whale	whale	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 war	conj
22	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 describes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	describe	present		the outcome of the war between the elephant and the whale				of the best	tree rules

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

The whale dragged the elephant away.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 whale	det
2	whale	whale	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 dragged	nsubj
3	dragged	drag	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 elephant	det
5	elephant	elephant	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 dragged	obj
6	away	away	ADV	_	3 dragged	advmod
7	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 dragged	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	drag away	past	the whale	the elephant				away property	vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent elephant=Theme

Option 2

Each creature assumed the rope had been tied to its own opponent alone.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 creature	det
2	creature	creature	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 assumed	nsubj
3	assumed	assume	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 rope	det
5	rope	rope	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 tied	nsubj:pass
6	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 tied	aux
7	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	8 tied	aux:pass
8	tied	tie	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 assumed	ccomp
9	to	to	ADP	_	12 opponent	case
10	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 opponent	nmod:poss
11	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 opponent	amod
12	opponent	opponent	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 tied	obl
13	alone	alone	ADV	_	12 opponent	advmod
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 assumed	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	assume	past	each creature						vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	tie	past · perfect · passive		the rope				to rope's own opponent	vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: subject=Patient to opponent=Co-Patient

Option 3

The elephant lost, though he blamed the whale for cheating in the contest.

The tree, 13 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 elephant	det
2	elephant	elephant	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 lost	nsubj
3	lost	lose	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 blamed	punct
5	though	though	SCONJ	_	7 blamed	mark
6	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 blamed	nsubj
7	blamed	blame	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 lost	conj
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 whale	det
9	whale	whale	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 blamed	obj
10	for	for	ADP	_	11 cheating	case
11	cheating	cheating	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 blamed	obl
12	in	in	ADP	_	14 contest	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 contest	det
14	contest	contest	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 blamed	obl
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 lost	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lose	past	the elephant						vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	blame	past	elephant	the whale		the contest		for cheating	vn judgment-33.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent whale=Theme for cheating=Attribute

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Neither party perceived that the tortoise was their true opponent.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Neither	neither	DET	PronType=Neg	2 party	det
2	party	party	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 perceived	nsubj
3	perceived	perceive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	that	that	SCONJ	_	10 opponent	mark
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 tortoise	det
6	tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 opponent	nsubj
7	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 opponent	cop
8	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 opponent	nmod:poss
9	true	true	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 opponent	amod
10	opponent	opponent	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 perceived	advcl
11	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 perceived	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	perceive	past	neither party						vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer
2	is a	past	the tortoise	their true opponent					tree rules

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/1258-pg3282-part59/e1/