Exam question 2 · Mabinogion, Culhwch and Olwen, part 64: Kai talks his way…

With reference to the passage, identify the means by which Kai gains admission to the castle.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, the · What happens: identify, mean, gain · To what, where: admission · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 2 of lesson 1339 «Mabinogion, Culhwch and Olwen, part 64: Kai talks his way past the gate to polish a giant's sword» 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	With	with	ADP	_	2 reference	case
2	reference	reference	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 identify	obl
3	to	to	ADP	_	5 passage	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 passage	det
5	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reference	nmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 reference	punct
7	identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 means	nsubj
9	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 identify	ccomp
10	by	by	SCONJ	_	13 gains	mark
11	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 gains	nsubj
12	Kai	Kai	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 gains	nsubj
13	gains	gain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 means	ccomp
14	admission	admission	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 gains	obj
15	to	to	ADP	_	17 castle	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 castle	det
17	castle	castle	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 gains	obl
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	7 identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here		with reference to the passage	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	mean	present	the			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	gain	present		admission	to the castle result	vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V NP.extent PP.source PP.goal»: agent=Patient admission=Extent to castle=Result

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 right answer

He claims skill as a burnisher of swords

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 claims	nsubj
2	claims	claim	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	skill	skill	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 claims	obj
4	as	as	ADP	_	6 burnisher	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 burnisher	det
6	burnisher	burnisher	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 claims	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 swords	case
8	swords	sword	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 burnisher	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	claim speech: other	present	He	skill				as a burnisher of swords	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent skill=Topic

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

He tells the porter that he is a king's messenger carrying a letter from Arthur to the giant himself

The tree, 20 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	2 tells	nsubj
2	tells	tell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 porter	det
4	porter	porter	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 tells	obj
5	that	that	SCONJ	_	11 messenger	mark
6	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 messenger	nsubj
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 messenger	cop
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 king	det
9	king	king	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 messenger	nmod:poss
10	's	's	PART	_	9 king	case
11	messenger	messenger	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 tells	ccomp
12	carrying	carry	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	11 messenger	acl
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 letter	det
14	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 carrying	obj
15	from	from	ADP	_	16 Arthur	case
16	Arthur	Arthur	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 letter	nmod
17	to	to	ADP	_	19 giant	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 giant	det
19	giant	giant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 carrying	advcl
20	himself	himself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	19 giant	nsubj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	tell speech: assert	present	He	the porter		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent porter=Recipient
2	is a	present	he	a king's messenger		tree rules
3	carry	gerund	a king's messenger not said here	a letter	Arthur	vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.initial_location»: agent=Agent letter=Theme from arthur=Initial_Location

Option 3

He claims skill as a burnisher of swords and begs the porter to let him in before the night falls

The tree, 20 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	2 claims	nsubj
2	claims	claim	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	skill	skill	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 claims	obj
4	as	as	ADP	_	6 burnisher	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 burnisher	det
6	burnisher	burnisher	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 claims	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 swords	case
8	swords	sword	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 burnisher	nmod
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 begs	cc
10	begs	beg	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 claims	conj
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 porter	det
12	porter	porter	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 begs	obj
13	to	to	PART	_	14 let	mark
14	let	let	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 begs	xcomp
15	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 let	obj
16	in	in	ADP	_	14 let	compound:prt
17	before	before	SCONJ	_	20 falls	mark
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 night	det
19	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 falls	nsubj
20	falls	fall	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 let	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	claim speech: other	present	He	skill	as a burnisher of swords	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent skill=Topic
2	beg speech: request	present	He not said here	the porter		vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent porter=Recipient clause=Topic
3	let in not said to happen	to-infinitive	the porter not said here	him = he		vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme
4	fall	present	the night			vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

He tricks the porter with a false name

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 tricks	nsubj
2	tricks	trick	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 porter	det
4	porter	porter	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 tricks	obj
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 name	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 name	det
7	false	false	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 name	amod
8	name	name	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 tricks	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	trick	present	He	the porter				with a false name	vn trick-59.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent porter=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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