Exam question 3 · Celtic Fairy Tales, The Winning of Olwen, part 1: a queen'…

Explain the manner in which the king came to discover the briar with two blossoms.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, king · What happens: explain, come, discover · To what, where: manner, briar

This is exam question 3 of lesson 1337 «Celtic Fairy Tales, The Winning of Olwen, part 1: a queen's grave, a forgetful king, and a prophecy about Olwen» 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	Explain	explain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 manner	det
3	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Explain	obj
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 came	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 king	det
7	king	king	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 came	nsubj
8	came	come	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 manner	acl:relcl
9	to	to	PART	_	10 discover	mark
10	discover	discover	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 came	xcomp
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 briar	det
12	briar	briar	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 discover	obj
13	with	with	ADP	_	15 blossoms	case
14	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	15 blossoms	nummod
15	blossoms	blossom	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 discover	obl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Explain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	explain speech: assert	imperative	you not said here	the manner			vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent manner=Topic
2	come	past	the king		the manner		tree rules
3	discover	to-infinitive	the king not said here	the briar		with two blossoms	vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent briar=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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

He saw it while riding past the grave when out hunting

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	2 saw	nsubj
2	saw	see	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 saw	obj
4	while	while	SCONJ	_	5 riding	mark
5	riding	ride	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 saw	advcl
6	past	past	ADP	_	8 grave	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 grave	det
8	grave	grave	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 riding	obl
9	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	10 out	advmod
10	out	out	ADP	_	5 riding	compound:prt
11	hunting	hunting	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 riding	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	see	past	He	it					vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus
2	ride out	gerund	He not said here			the grave			vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent past grave=Trajectory

Option 2

He was told of it by the watchman who had stood by the grave for seven years and reported it at dawn

The tree, 22 words

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 told	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 told	aux:pass
3	told	tell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 it	case
5	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 told	obl
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 watchman	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 watchman	det
8	watchman	watchman	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 told	obl
9	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 stood	nsubj
10	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	11 stood	aux
11	stood	stand	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	8 watchman	acl:relcl
12	by	by	ADP	_	14 grave	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 grave	det
14	grave	grave	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 stood	obl
15	for	for	ADP	_	17 years	case
16	seven	seven	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	17 years	nummod
17	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 stood	obl
18	and	and	CCONJ	_	19 reported	cc
19	reported	report	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 told	conj
20	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	19 reported	obj
21	at	at	ADP	_	22 dawn	case
22	dawn	dawn	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 reported	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	tell speech: assert	past · passive	the watchman	He		of it	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent subject=Recipient
2	stand	past · perfect	the watchman		year	by the grave	vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent by grave=Location
3	report	past	the watchman not said here	grave	dawn		vn prosecute-33.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient

Option 3

He spotted it while his men were searching the nearby woods

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	2 spotted	nsubj
2	spotted	spot	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 spotted	obj
4	while	while	SCONJ	_	8 searching	mark
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 men	nmod:poss
6	men	man	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 searching	nsubj
7	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 searching	aux
8	searching	search	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 spotted	advcl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 woods	det
10	nearby	nearby	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 woods	amod
11	woods	wood	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 searching	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	spot	past	He	it					vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Destination
2	search	past · progressive	his men	the nearby woods					vn search-35.2 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent wood=Location

Option 4

He noticed it while walking his dogs

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	2 noticed	nsubj
2	noticed	notice	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 noticed	obj
4	while	while	SCONJ	_	5 walking	mark
5	walking	walk	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 noticed	advcl
6	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 dogs	nmod:poss
7	dogs	dog	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 walking	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	notice	past	He	it					vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus
2	walk	gerund	He not said here	his dogs					vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dog=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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