Exam question 1 · Old Indian Legends, Iktomi and the Ducks, the tree, the wo…

Which of the following best describes the outcome of Iktomi's attempt to deceive the wolves regarding the ducks beneath the ashes?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: Iktomi · What happens: follow, describe, deceive, regard, attempt · To what, where: outcome, wolves

This is exam question 1 of lesson 1265 «Old Indian Legends, Iktomi and the Ducks, the tree, the wolves and the blanket» 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	_	12 attempt	case
10	Iktomi	Iktomi	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 attempt	nmod:poss
11	's	's	PART	_	10 Iktomi	case
12	attempt	attempt	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 outcome	nmod
13	to	to	PART	_	14 deceive	mark
14	deceive	deceive	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 attempt	acl
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 wolves	det
16	wolves	wolf	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 deceive	obj
17	regarding	regard	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	19 ducks	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 ducks	det
19	ducks	duck	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 wolves	nmod
20	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	22 ashes	case
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 ashes	det
22	ashes	ash	NOUN	Number=Plur	19 ducks	nmod
23	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 describes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	describe	present		the outcome of Iktomi's attempt	of the best	tree rules
3	deceive	to-infinitive		the wolves	regard the ducks beneath the ashes	vn trick-59.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wolf=Patient
4	regard	gerund				vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
5	attempt		Iktomi			nom attempt «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 · ✓ the right answer

He lost the remaining ducks through his own false claim

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 lost	nsubj
2	lost	lose	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 ducks	det
4	remaining	remaining	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 ducks	amod
5	ducks	duck	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 lost	obj
6	through	through	ADP	_	10 claim	case
7	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 claim	nmod:poss
8	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 claim	amod
9	false	false	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 claim	amod
10	claim	claim	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 lost	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lose	past	He	the remaining ducks		his own false claim			vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent duck=Eventuality
2	claim		his = he						nom claim «communication transitive»: poss=agent

Option 2

He ate the ducks himself after all the trickery

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 ate	nsubj
2	ate	eat	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 ducks	det
4	ducks	duck	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 ate	obj
5	himself	himself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	2 ate	obl:unmarked
6	after	after	ADP	_	9 trickery	case
7	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	9 trickery	det:predet
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 trickery	det
9	trickery	trickery	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 ate	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	eat	past	He	the ducks			after all trickery	himself = he obl:unmarked	vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent duck=Patient

Option 3

He kept the ducks by hiding them well

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 kept	nsubj
2	kept	keep	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 ducks	det
4	ducks	duck	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 kept	obj
5	by	by	SCONJ	_	6 hiding	mark
6	hiding	hide	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 kept	advcl
7	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 hiding	obj
8	well	well	ADV	Degree=Pos	6 hiding	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	keep	past	He	the ducks					vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent duck=Theme
2	hide	gerund	He not said here	ducks = duck				well property	vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient

Option 4

He won the ducks

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 won	nsubj
2	won	win	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 ducks	det
4	ducks	duck	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 won	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	win	past	He	the ducks					vn succeed-74-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent duck=Eventuality

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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