Exam question 1 · Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shifty Lad: the Shifty Lad wins th…

By what means did the Shifty Lad ascertain the presence of the black mark upon his cheek?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Shifty Lad · What happens: mean, do, ascertain · To what, where: presence · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 1 of lesson 1279 «Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shifty Lad: the Shifty Lad wins the princess, then dies on the bridge of Dublin» 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	root	root
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	8 ascertain	nsubj
8	ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 did	parataxis
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 presence	det
10	presence	presence	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 ascertain	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 mark	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 mark	det
13	black	black	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 mark	amod
14	mark	mark	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 presence	nmod
15	upon	upon	ADP	_	17 cheek	case
16	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	17 cheek	nmod:poss
17	cheek	cheek	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 mark	nmod
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 means	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	mean	present			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	do	past			vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	ascertain	present	the Shifty Lad	the presence of the black mark upon Lad's cheek	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent presence=Topic

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 looking in a polished bowl

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 looking	mark
2	looking	look	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	6 bowl	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 bowl	det
5	polished	polish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 bowl	amod
6	bowl	bowl	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 looking	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	look	gerund						in a polished bowl	vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in bowl=Theme
2	polish	participle							vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

By viewing it in a looking glass

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 viewing	mark
2	viewing	view	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 viewing	obj
4	in	in	ADP	_	7 glass	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 glass	det
6	looking	look	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 glass	amod
7	glass	glass	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 viewing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	view	gerund		it		a looking glass			vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus
2	look	gerund							vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus

Option 3

By checking in a silver glass

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 checking	mark
2	checking	check	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	6 glass	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 glass	det
5	silver	silver	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 glass	compound
6	glass	glass	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 checking	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	check	gerund				a silver glass			vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in glass=Location

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

By observing it in a silver mirror

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 observing	mark
2	observing	observe	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 observing	obj
4	in	in	ADP	_	7 mirror	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 mirror	det
6	silver	silver	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 mirror	compound
7	mirror	mirror	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 observing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	observe	gerund		it		a silver mirror			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent it=Topic

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/1279-pg3454-part4/e1/