Exam question 3 · African Folk-Tales, The Tortoise and the Monkey, part 60:…

Question: With reference to the passage, describe the arrangement made between the tortoise and the fox at the outset.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, arrangement · What happens: describe, make

This is exam question 3 of lesson 1259 «African Folk-Tales, The Tortoise and the Monkey, part 60: the tortoise tricks the fox and the stag, and the monkey cheats the barber and the villagers» 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	Question	question	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 describe	compound
2	:	:	PUNCT	_	4 reference	punct
3	With	with	ADP	_	4 reference	case
4	reference	reference	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Question	appos
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 passage	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 passage	det
7	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 reference	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Question	punct
9	describe	describe	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 arrangement	det
11	arrangement	arrangement	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 made	nsubj
12	made	make	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 describe	ccomp
13	between	between	ADP	_	15 tortoise	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 tortoise	det
15	tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 made	obl
16	and	and	CCONJ	_	18 fox	cc
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 fox	det
18	fox	fox	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 tortoise	conj
19	at	at	ADP	_	21 outset	case
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 outset	det
21	outset	outset	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 fox	nmod
22	.	.	PUNCT	_	9 describe	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	describe	imperative	you not said here						vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	make	past	the arrangement					between the tortoise and the fox at the outset	vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset

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 fox would lie buried in the earth, and the tortoise would bring him fruit daily

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 fox	det
2	fox	fox	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 lie	nsubj
3	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 lie	aux
4	lie	lie	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	buried	bury	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 lie	xcomp
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 earth	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 earth	det
8	earth	earth	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 buried	obl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 bring	punct
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 bring	cc
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 tortoise	det
12	tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 bring	nsubj
13	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	14 bring	aux
14	bring	bring	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 lie	conj
15	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 bring	obj
16	fruit	fruit	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 bring	obj
17	daily	daily	ADV	_	14 bring	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	other	roles by
1	lie	would	the fox					tree rules
2	bury	participle	the fox not said here			the earth		vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in earth=Destination
3	bring	would	the tortoise	fruit	fox		daily property	vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent he=Destination fruit=Theme

Option 2

The tortoise was to hide in a hole for seven years while the fox fetched him fresh fruit, and the fox would then starve if he failed

The tree, 27 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 tortoise	det
2	tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 hide	nsubj
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 hide	cop
4	to	to	PART	_	5 hide	mark
5	hide	hide	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 hole	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 hole	det
8	hole	hole	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 hide	obl
9	for	for	ADP	_	11 years	case
10	seven	seven	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	11 years	nummod
11	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 hide	obl
12	while	while	SCONJ	_	15 fetched	mark
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 fox	det
14	fox	fox	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 fetched	nsubj
15	fetched	fetch	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 hide	advcl
16	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 fetched	obj
17	fresh	fresh	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 fruit	amod
18	fruit	fruit	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 fetched	obj
19	,	,	PUNCT	_	25 starve	punct
20	and	and	CCONJ	_	25 starve	cc
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 fox	det
22	fox	fox	NOUN	Number=Sing	25 starve	nsubj
23	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	25 starve	aux
24	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	25 starve	advmod
25	starve	starve	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 hide	parataxis
26	if	if	SCONJ	_	28 failed	mark
27	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	28 failed	nsubj
28	failed	fail	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	25 starve	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	the tortoise			a hole	year	hide property	tree rules
2	fetch	past	the fox	fresh fruit	him = he				vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary fruit=Theme
3	starve	would	the fox				then		tree rules
4	fail a condition, not said to happen	past	fox						vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

Each agreed to lie buried for seven years in a hole, with the other bringing him food every day until the time was up completely

The tree, 25 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 agreed	nsubj:pass
2	agreed	agree	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 lie	mark
4	lie	lie	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 agreed	xcomp
5	buried	bury	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 lie	xcomp
6	for	for	ADP	_	8 years	case
7	seven	seven	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	8 years	nummod
8	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 buried	obl
9	in	in	ADP	_	11 hole	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 hole	det
11	hole	hole	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 buried	obl
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 bringing	punct
13	with	with	SCONJ	_	16 bringing	mark
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 other	det
15	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 bringing	nsubj
16	bringing	bring	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 lie	advcl
17	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	16 bringing	obj
18	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 bringing	obj
19	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	20 day	det
20	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 bringing	obl:unmarked
21	until	until	ADP	_	23 time	case
22	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	23 time	det
23	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 bringing	obl
24	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	25 up	cop
25	up	up	ADP	_	2 agreed	compound:prt
26	completely	completely	ADV	_	2 agreed	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	agree up speech: agree	participle · passive		Each				completely property	vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V PP.co-agent that S»: subject=Co-Agent clause=Topic
2	lie not said to happen	to-infinitive							tree rules
3	bury	participle				a hole	year		vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in hole=Destination
4	bring	gerund	the other	food	him = he		day; time		vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent he=Destination food=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Each agreed to lie buried for seven years, the other to supply him with food

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 agreed	nsubj:pass
2	agreed	agree	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 other	advcl
3	to	to	PART	_	4 lie	mark
4	lie	lie	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 agreed	xcomp
5	buried	bury	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 lie	xcomp
6	for	for	ADP	_	8 years	case
7	seven	seven	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	8 years	nummod
8	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 buried	obl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 other	punct
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 other	det
11	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
12	to	to	PART	_	13 supply	mark
13	supply	supply	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	11 other	xcomp
14	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 supply	obj
15	with	with	ADP	_	16 food	case
16	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 supply	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	to whom	when	other	roles by
1	agree speech: agree	participle · passive	Each				vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V PP.co-agent that S»: subject=Co-Agent clause=Topic
2	lie not said to happen	to-infinitive					tree rules
3	bury	participle			year		vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	supply	to-infinitive		him = he		with food	vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP.theme»: agent=Agent he=Recipient with food=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.

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