Exam question 2 · Japanese Fairy Tales, The Tongue-Cut Sparrow, part 4: the…

Which of the following accurately states the reason the old man selected the smaller of the two boxes?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: old man · What happens: follow, state, select · To what, where: reason, smaller

This is exam question 2 of lesson 1344 «Japanese Fairy Tales, The Tongue-Cut Sparrow, part 4: the greedy old wife opens the big box and finds demons» 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	6 states	nsubj
2	of	of	SCONJ	_	6 states	mark
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 states	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 states	nsubj
5	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	6 states	advmod
6	states	state	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 reason	det
8	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 states	obj
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 man	det
10	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 man	amod
11	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 selected	nsubj
12	selected	select	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 reason	acl:relcl
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 smaller	det
14	smaller	small	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	12 selected	obj
15	of	of	ADP	_	18 boxes	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 boxes	det
17	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	18 boxes	nummod
18	boxes	box	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 smaller	obl
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 states	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	state speech: other	present		the reason	accurately property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
3	select	past	the old man	the smaller		vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent small=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

He liked the color better

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 liked	nsubj
2	liked	like	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 color	det
4	color	color	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 liked	obj
5	better	well	ADV	Degree=Cmp	2 liked	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	like	past	He	the color				well property	vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot color=Theme

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

He was too old and feeble to carry the heavier container

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	4 old	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 old	cop
3	too	too	ADV	_	4 old	advmod
4	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 feeble	cc
6	feeble	feeble	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 old	conj
7	to	to	PART	_	8 carry	mark
8	carry	carry	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 feeble	xcomp
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 container	det
10	heavier	heavy	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	11 container	amod
11	container	container	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 carry	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	past	He		old property	tree rules
2	be		He not said here			tree rules
3	carry	to-infinitive	He not said here	the heavier container		vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent container=Theme

Option 3

He thought the lighter box held more gold coins

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 thought	nsubj
2	thought	think	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 box	det
4	lighter	light	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	5 box	amod
5	box	box	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 held	nsubj
6	held	hold	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 thought	ccomp
7	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	9 coins	advmod
8	gold	gold	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 coins	compound
9	coins	coin	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 held	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	think speech: other	past	He						vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	hold	past	the lighter box	gold coins					vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

He believed the sparrow had put more treasure inside it

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 believed	nsubj
2	believed	believe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 sparrow	det
4	sparrow	sparrow	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 put	nsubj:pass
5	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 put	aux
6	put	put	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 believed	ccomp
7	more	more	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	8 treasure	amod
8	treasure	treasure	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 put	obj
9	inside	inside	ADP	_	10 it	case
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 treasure	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	believe	past	He						vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus
2	put	past · perfect · passive		the sparrow					vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V NP PP.goal»: subject=Asset treasure=Goal

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/1344-pg4018-part4/e2/