Exam question 2 · Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shifty Lad, part 3: tricks on the…

By what means did the Shifty Lad indicate to the Black Rogue that he wished to be lowered?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: he · What happens: mean, do, indicate, wish, lower · To what, where: Shifty Lad · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 2 of lesson 1278 «Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shifty Lad, part 3: tricks on the shepherd, then the Black Rogue hangs» 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	By	by	SCONJ	_	3 means	mark
2	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	3 means	nsubj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 indicate	advcl
4	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 means	ccomp
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Lad	det
6	Shifty	shifty	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 Lad	amod
7	Lad	Lad	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 did	obj
8	indicate	indicate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	to	to	ADP	_	12 Rogue	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 Rogue	det
11	Black	Black	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 Rogue	compound
12	Rogue	Rogue	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 indicate	obl
13	that	that	SCONJ	_	15 wished	mark
14	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 wished	nsubj
15	wished	wish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 indicate	advcl
16	to	to	PART	_	18 lowered	mark
17	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	18 lowered	aux:pass
18	lowered	lower	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	15 wished	xcomp
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 indicate	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	mean	present				vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	do	past		the Shifty Lad		vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lad=Eventuality
3	indicate	present			to the Black Rogue	vn indicate-78-1 «NP V PP.recipient that S»: agent=Pivot to rogue=Experiencer
4	wish	past	he			vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme
5	lower not said to happen	to-infinitive · passive	he not said here			vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»

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

by shaking his legs

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	by	by	SCONJ	_	2 shaking	mark
2	shaking	shake	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 legs	nmod:poss
4	legs	leg	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 shaking	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	shake	gerund		his legs					vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent leg=Patient

Option 2

by stamping boots

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	by	by	SCONJ	_	2 stamping	mark
2	stamping	stamp	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	boots	boot	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 stamping	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	stamp	gerund		boots					vn image_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent boot=Destination

Option 3

by waving

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	by	by	SCONJ	_	2 waving	mark
2	waving	wave	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	wave	gerund							vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4

by nodding

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	by	by	SCONJ	_	2 nodding	mark
2	nodding	nod	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	nod	gerund							vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

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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