Exam question 4 · Old Indian Legends, The Badger and the Bear, part 1: the b…

Describe the manner in which the fawn prepared the pit for Iktomi, as recorded in the text.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, fawn · What happens: describe, prepare, record · To what, where: manner, pit, text

This is exam question 4 of lesson 1268 «Old Indian Legends, The Badger and the Bear, part 1: the bear begs for meat, then drives the badger family out of their home» 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	Describe	describe	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 manner	det
3	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Describe	obj
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 prepared	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 fawn	det
7	fawn	fawn	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 prepared	nsubj
8	prepared	prepare	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	1 Describe	parataxis
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 pit	det
10	pit	pit	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 prepared	obj
11	for	for	ADP	_	12 Iktomi	case
12	Iktomi	Iktomi	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 pit	nmod
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 recorded	punct
14	as	as	SCONJ	_	15 recorded	mark
15	recorded	record	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 prepared	conj
16	in	in	ADP	_	18 text	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 text	det
18	text	text	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 recorded	obl
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Describe	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	describe	imperative	you not said here	the manner			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent manner=Theme
2	prepare	past	the fawn	the pit		for Iktomi	vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent pit=Product for iktomi=Beneficiary
3	record	participle	the fawn not said here		the text		vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in text=Destination

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

By digging a deep hole

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 digging	mark
2	digging	dig	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 hole	det
4	deep	deep	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 hole	amod
5	hole	hole	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 digging	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	dig	gerund		a deep hole					vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent hole=Theme

Option 2

By burying him under soft leaves and mud

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 burying	mark
2	burying	bury	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 burying	obj
4	under	under	ADP	_	6 leaves	case
5	soft	soft	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 leaves	amod
6	leaves	leaf	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 burying	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 mud	cc
8	mud	mud	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 leaves	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bury	gerund		him = he		soft leaves and mud			vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent he=Theme under leaf=Destination

Option 3

By hiding him in grass

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 hiding	mark
2	hiding	hide	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 hiding	obj
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 grass	case
5	grass	grass	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 hiding	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hide	gerund		him = he		grass			vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent he=Patient in grass=Location

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

By covering him with dry grass and cedar

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 covering	mark
2	covering	cover	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 covering	obj
4	with	with	ADP	_	6 grass	case
5	dry	dry	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 grass	amod
6	grass	grass	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 covering	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 cedar	cc
8	cedar	cedar	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 grass	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cover	gerund			him = he			with dry grass and cedar	vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent he=Destination with grass=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1268-pg338-part5/e4/