Exam question 1 · Violet Fairy Book, The Fish of the Fountain: a girl feeds…

Which of the following describes the action by which the youngest sister's sisters came to kill the fish?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: sisters · What happens: follow, describe, come, kill · To what, where: action, fish

This is exam question 1 of lesson 1312 «Violet Fairy Book, The Fish of the Fountain: a girl feeds a fish, he is eaten, and his bones grow into a magic tree» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 describes	nsubj
2	of	of	SCONJ	_	5 describes	mark
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 describes	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 describes	nsubj
5	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 action	det
7	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 describes	obj
8	by	by	ADP	_	9 which	case
9	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	15 came	obl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 sister	det
11	youngest	young	ADJ	Degree=Sup	12 sister	amod
12	sister	sister	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 sisters	nmod:poss
13	's	's	PART	_	12 sister	case
14	sisters	sister	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 came	nsubj
15	came	come	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 action	acl:relcl
16	to	to	PART	_	17 kill	mark
17	kill	kill	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	15 came	xcomp
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 fish	det
19	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 kill	obj
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 describes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	describe	present		the action		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent action=Theme
3	come	past	the youngest sister's sisters		by the action	tree rules
4	kill	to-infinitive	the youngest sister's sisters not said here	the fish		vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=Theme

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

They hid and then caught him at dawn.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 hid	nsubj
2	hid	hide	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 caught	cc
4	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	5 caught	advmod
5	caught	catch	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 hid	conj
6	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 caught	obj
7	at	at	ADP	_	8 dawn	case
8	dawn	dawn	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 caught	obl
9	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 hid	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hide	past	They						vn concealment-16-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	catch	past	They not said here	him = he			then; dawn		vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme

Option 2

They watched her secretly from the kitchen door, then caught him and boiled him for supper.

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 watched	nsubj
2	watched	watch	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 watched	obj
4	secretly	secretly	ADV	_	2 watched	advmod
5	from	from	ADP	_	8 door	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 door	det
7	kitchen	kitchen	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 door	compound
8	door	door	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 watched	obl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 caught	punct
10	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	11 caught	advmod
11	caught	catch	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 watched	parataxis
12	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 caught	obj
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 boiled	cc
14	boiled	boil	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	11 caught	conj
15	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 boiled	obj
16	for	for	ADP	_	17 supper	case
17	supper	supper	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 boiled	obl
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 watched	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	watch	past	They	her = she	the kitchen door		secretly property	vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme
2	catch	past		him = he		then		vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme
3	boil	past		him = he			for supper	vn preparing-26.3-2 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent he=Patient for supper=Beneficiary

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

They watched her secretly, then caught and boiled him.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 watched	nsubj
2	watched	watch	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 watched	obj
4	secretly	secretly	ADV	_	2 watched	advmod
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 caught	punct
6	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	7 caught	advmod
7	caught	catch	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 watched	parataxis
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 boiled	cc
9	boiled	boil	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 caught	conj
10	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 boiled	obj
11	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 watched	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	watch	past	They	her = she		secretly property	vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme
2	catch	past			then		vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	boil	past		him = he			vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent he=Patient

Option 4

They followed her in secret for days, then caught him in the fountain and boiled him.

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 followed	nsubj
2	followed	follow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 followed	obj
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 secret	case
5	secret	secret	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 followed	obl
6	for	for	ADP	_	7 days	case
7	days	day	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 followed	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 caught	punct
9	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	10 caught	advmod
10	caught	catch	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 followed	parataxis
11	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 caught	obj
12	in	in	ADP	_	14 fountain	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 fountain	det
14	fountain	fountain	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 caught	obl
15	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 boiled	cc
16	boiled	boil	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 caught	conj
17	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	16 boiled	obj
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 followed	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	roles by
1	follow	past	They	her = she	secret	day	vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent she=Theme in secret=Trajectory
2	catch	past		him = he	the fountain	then	vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme
3	boil	past		him = he			vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent he=Patient

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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