Exam question 4 · Old Indian Legends, Iktomi and the Ducks, the tree, the wo…

What is the principal reason the muskrat's greeting is significant in the final passage of this part?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: muskrat, part · What happens: be, greet, pass · To what, where: final passage

This is exam question 4 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	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	11 significant	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 significant	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 reason	det
4	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 reason	amod
5	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 significant	nsubj
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 muskrat	det
7	muskrat	muskrat	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 greeting	nmod:poss
8	's	's	PART	_	7 muskrat	case
9	greeting	greeting	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 reason	nmod
10	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 significant	cop
11	significant	significant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
12	in	in	ADP	_	15 passage	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 passage	det
14	final	final	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 passage	amod
15	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 significant	obl
16	of	of	ADP	_	18 part	case
17	this	this	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	18 part	det
18	part	part	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 passage	nmod
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	11 significant	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	other	roles by
1	is	present		the final passage of this part	significant property	tree rules
2	greet		the muskrat			nom greeting «communication transitive»: poss=agent
3	pass		this part			nom passage «act intransitive»: of=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 · ✓ the right answer

It signals the customary hospitality that Iktomi fails to observe

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 signals	nsubj
2	signals	signal	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 hospitality	det
4	customary	customary	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 hospitality	compound
5	hospitality	hospitality	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 signals	appos
6	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 fails	nsubj
7	Iktomi	Iktomi	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 fails	nsubj
8	fails	fail	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 hospitality	acl:relcl
9	to	to	PART	_	10 observe	mark
10	observe	observe	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 fails	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fail	present	the customary hospitality						vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
2	not observe	to-infinitive	the customary hospitality not said here						vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent

Option 2

It reveals the muskrat wants to fight Iktomi for food

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 reveals	nsubj
2	reveals	reveal	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 muskrat	det
4	muskrat	muskrat	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 wants	nsubj
5	wants	want	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 reveals	ccomp
6	to	to	PART	_	7 fight	mark
7	fight	fight	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 wants	xcomp
8	Iktomi	Iktomi	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 fight	obj
9	for	for	ADP	_	10 food	case
10	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 fight	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	reveal	present	It			vn characterize-29.2-1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	want	present	the muskrat			vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme
3	fight not said to happen	to-infinitive	the muskrat not said here	Iktomi	for food	vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent iktomi=Co-Agent

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

It shows that the muskrat has come to warn Iktomi about the wolves who are waiting nearby for him

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 shows	nsubj
2	shows	show	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 come	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 muskrat	det
5	muskrat	muskrat	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 come	nsubj
6	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 come	aux
7	come	come	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	2 shows	ccomp
8	to	to	PART	_	9 warn	mark
9	warn	warn	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 come	advcl
10	Iktomi	Iktomi	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 warn	obj
11	about	about	SCONJ	_	16 waiting	mark
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 wolves	det
13	wolves	wolf	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 waiting	nsubj
14	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	16 waiting	nsubj
15	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	16 waiting	aux
16	waiting	wait	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	9 warn	advcl
17	nearby	nearby	ADV	_	16 waiting	advmod
18	for	for	ADP	_	19 him	case
19	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	16 waiting	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	to whom	other	roles by
1	show	present	It			vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	come	present · perfect	the muskrat			vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	warn speech: warn	to-infinitive	the muskrat not said here	Iktomi		vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent iktomi=Recipient
4	wait	present · progressive	the wolves		for muskrat; nearby property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

It highlights that the muskrat is the true hero who will later punish Iktomi for his greed and bad manners

The tree, 20 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 highlights	nsubj
2	highlights	highlight	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	9 hero	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 muskrat	det
5	muskrat	muskrat	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 hero	nsubj
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 hero	cop
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 hero	det
8	true	true	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 hero	amod
9	hero	hero	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 highlights	ccomp
10	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 punish	nsubj
11	will	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	13 punish	aux
12	later	late	ADV	Degree=Cmp	13 punish	advmod
13	punish	punish	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 hero	acl:relcl
14	Iktomi	Iktomi	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 punish	obj
15	for	for	ADP	_	17 greed	case
16	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	17 greed	nmod:poss
17	greed	greed	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 punish	obl
18	and	and	CCONJ	_	20 manners	cc
19	bad	bad	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 manners	amod
20	manners	manners	NOUN	Number=Ptan	17 greed	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	highlight	present	It			vn braid-41.2.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	is a	present	the muskrat	the true hero		tree rules
3	punish	future	the true hero	Iktomi	for muskrat's greed and bad manners; late property	vn prosecute-33.2-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent iktomi=Patient for greed=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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