Exam question 3 · Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shifty Lad: the Shifty Lad wins th…

Upon what grounds did the Shifty Lad express his conviction concerning the bridge of Dublin?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Shifty Lad, conviction, Lad · What happens: ground, express, concern, convict · To what, where: conviction, bridge

This is exam question 3 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	Upon	upon	ADP	_	2 what	case
2	what	what	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 express	obl
3	grounds	ground	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 what	acl:relcl
4	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 express	aux
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 express	nsubj
8	express	express	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
9	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 conviction	nmod:poss
10	conviction	conviction	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 express	obj
11	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 conviction	acl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 bridge	det
13	bridge	bridge	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 concerning	obj
14	of	of	ADP	_	15 Dublin	case
15	Dublin	Dublin	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 bridge	nmod
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 express	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	ground	present			vn pocket-9.10-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	express	past · do-support	the Shifty Lad	Lad's conviction	vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent conviction=Theme
3	concern	gerund	Lad's conviction not said here	the bridge of Dublin	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus bridge=Experiencer
4	convict		Lad		nom conviction «cognition 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

He had heard a rumour from the town crier

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	3 heard	nsubj
2	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 heard	aux
3	heard	hear	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 rumour	det
5	rumour	rumour	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 heard	obj
6	from	from	ADP	_	9 crier	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 crier	det
8	town	town	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 crier	compound
9	crier	crier	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 heard	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hear	past · perfect	He	a rumour		the town crier			vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent rumour=Topic from crier=Source

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

Long ago, his mother had said clearly that he would be hanged from the stone bridge over the river

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Long	long	ADV	Degree=Pos	2 ago	advmod
2	ago	ago	ADV	_	7 said	advmod
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 ago	punct
4	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 mother	nmod:poss
5	mother	mother	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 said	nsubj
6	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 said	aux
7	said	say	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
8	clearly	clearly	ADV	_	7 said	advmod
9	that	that	SCONJ	_	13 hanged	mark
10	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 hanged	nsubj:pass
11	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	13 hanged	aux
12	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	13 hanged	aux:pass
13	hanged	hange	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 said	advcl
14	from	from	ADP	_	17 bridge	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 bridge	det
16	stone	stone	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 bridge	compound
17	bridge	bridge	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 hanged	obl
18	over	over	ADP	_	20 river	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 river	det
20	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 hanged	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	past · perfect	his mother					ago, clearly property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	hange	would · passive		he		the stone bridge		over the river	tree rules

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

His mother had prophesied his death upon it

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	His	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 mother	nmod:poss
2	mother	mother	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 prophesied	nsubj:pass
3	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 prophesied	aux
4	prophesied	prophesy	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 death	nmod:poss
6	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 prophesied	obj
7	upon	upon	ADP	_	8 it	case
8	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 death	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prophesy	past · perfect · passive		His mother					vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: subject=Theme death=Eventuality
2	die		his = he					upon death	nom death «event intransitive»: poss=agent upon=obl

Option 4

His mother had once prophesied, long before, that he would hang from the bridge of Dublin

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	His	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 mother	nmod:poss
2	mother	mother	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 prophesied	nsubj:pass
3	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 prophesied	aux
4	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	5 prophesied	advmod
5	prophesied	prophesy	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 before	punct
7	long	long	ADV	Degree=Pos	8 before	advmod
8	before	before	ADV	_	5 prophesied	advmod
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 hang	punct
10	that	that	SCONJ	_	13 hang	mark
11	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 hang	nsubj
12	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	13 hang	aux
13	hang	hang	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 prophesied	parataxis
14	from	from	ADP	_	16 bridge	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 bridge	det
16	bridge	bridge	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 hang	obl
17	of	of	ADP	_	18 Dublin	case
18	Dublin	Dublin	PROPN	Number=Sing	16 bridge	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prophesy	past · perfect · passive		His mother				before, once property	vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	hang	would	he			the bridge of Dublin			vn assuming_position-50 «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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