Exam question 2 · Mabinogion, The Lady of the Fountain, part 50: Owen beats…

Why was Owen unable to dismount when the drawbridge descended?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: drawbridge · What happens: be, dismount, descend

This is exam question 2 of lesson 1325 «Mabinogion, The Lady of the Fountain, part 50: Owen beats the black knight and gets trapped in a drawbridge» 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	Why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	4 unable	advmod
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 unable	cop
3	Owen	Owen	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 unable	compound
4	unable	unable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 dismount	mark
6	dismount	dismount	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 unable	xcomp
7	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	10 descended	advmod
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 drawbridge	det
9	drawbridge	drawbridge	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 descended	nsubj
10	descended	descend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 dismount	advcl
11	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 unable	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	is	past		unable property	tree rules
2	dismount	to-infinitive			vn disassemble-23.3 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
3	descend	participle	the drawbridge		vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V»: agent=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

The bridge rose beneath his saddle

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 bridge	det
2	bridge	bridge	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 rose	nsubj
3	rose	rise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	6 saddle	case
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 saddle	nmod:poss
6	saddle	saddle	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 rose	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rise	past	the bridge			bridge's saddle			vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent beneath saddle=Location

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

His horse was caught midway and held fast

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 horse	nmod:poss
2	horse	horse	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 caught	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 caught	aux:pass
4	caught	catch	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	midway	midway	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 caught	obj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 held	cc
7	held	hold	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 caught	conj
8	fast	fast	ADV	Degree=Pos	7 held	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	catch	past · passive		His horse					vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: subject=Beneficiary midway=Theme
2	hold	participle						fast property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3

His horse was caught midway and held fast by the rising chains of the bridge

The tree, 15 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 horse	nmod:poss
2	horse	horse	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 caught	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 caught	aux:pass
4	caught	catch	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	midway	midway	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 caught	obj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 held	cc
7	held	hold	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 caught	conj
8	fast	fast	ADV	Degree=Pos	7 held	advmod
9	by	by	ADP	_	12 chains	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 chains	det
11	rising	rise	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	12 chains	amod
12	chains	chain	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 held	obl
13	of	of	ADP	_	15 bridge	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 bridge	det
15	bridge	bridge	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 chains	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	catch	past · passive	His horse		vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: subject=Beneficiary midway=Theme
2	hold	participle		by the rising chains of the bridge; fast property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by chain=Location
3	rise	gerund			vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4

His horse was caught midway and held fast while the guards shouted from the wall above

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 horse	nmod:poss
2	horse	horse	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 caught	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 caught	aux:pass
4	caught	catch	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	midway	midway	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 caught	obj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 held	cc
7	held	hold	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 caught	conj
8	fast	fast	ADV	Degree=Pos	7 held	advmod
9	while	while	SCONJ	_	12 shouted	mark
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 guards	det
11	guards	guard	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 shouted	nsubj
12	shouted	shout	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	7 held	advcl
13	from	from	ADP	_	15 wall	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 wall	det
15	wall	wall	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 shouted	obl
16	above	above	ADV	_	12 shouted	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	catch	past · passive		His horse			vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: subject=Beneficiary midway=Theme
2	hold	participle				fast property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	shout speech: express	participle	the guards		the wall	above property	vn manner_speaking-37.3 «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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1325-pg3454-part50/e2/