Exam question 2 · Japanese Fairy Tales, The Mirror of Matsuyama, part 22: th…

By what means did the father ultimately ascertain the true nature of the reflection?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: mean, do, ascertain · To what, where: father, true nature · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 2 of lesson 1362 «Japanese Fairy Tales, The Mirror of Matsuyama, part 22: the father finds the mirror, and the stepmother begs pardon» 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	By	by	SCONJ	_	3 means	mark
2	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	3 means	nsubj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 means	ccomp
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 father	det
6	father	father	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 did	obj
7	ultimately	ultimately	ADV	_	8 ascertain	advmod
8	ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 did	advcl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 nature	det
10	true	true	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 nature	amod
11	nature	nature	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 ascertain	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 reflection	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 reflection	det
14	reflection	reflection	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 nature	nmod
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 means	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	mean	present			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	do	past	the father		vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent father=Eventuality
3	ascertain	present	the true nature of the reflection	ultimately property	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nature=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

By reading an old family letter

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 reading	mark
2	reading	read	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 letter	det
4	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 letter	amod
5	family	family	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 letter	compound
6	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reading	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	read	gerund		a old family letter					vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent letter=Topic

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

By listening to his wife's words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 listening	mark
2	listening	listen	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	to	to	ADP	_	7 words	case
4	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 wife	nmod:poss
5	wife	wife	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 words	nmod:poss
6	's	's	PART	_	5 wife	case
7	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 listening	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	listen	gerund						to his wife's words	vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to word=Theme
2	word		his wife						nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3

By checking every room in the house for signs of curses and finally seeing the girl's reflection

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 checking	mark
2	checking	check	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	4 room	det
4	room	room	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 checking	obj
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 house	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 house	det
7	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 room	nmod
8	for	for	ADP	_	9 signs	case
9	signs	sign	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 checking	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 curses	case
11	curses	curse	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 signs	nmod
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 seeing	cc
13	finally	finally	ADV	_	14 seeing	advmod
14	seeing	see	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 checking	conj
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 girl	det
16	girl	girl	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 reflection	nmod:poss
17	's	's	PART	_	16 girl	case
18	reflection	reflection	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 seeing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	check	gerund	every room	the house	for signs of curses	vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent room=Theme for sign=Attribute
2	see	gerund	the girl's reflection		finally property	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer reflection=Stimulus
3	sign		curses			nom sign «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

By examining the mirror himself and perceiving the face

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 examining	mark
2	examining	examine	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 mirror	det
4	mirror	mirror	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 examining	obj
5	himself	himself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	2 examining	obl:unmarked
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 perceiving	cc
7	perceiving	perceive	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 examining	conj
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 face	det
9	face	face	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 perceiving	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	examine	gerund		the mirror				himself = he obl:unmarked	vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mirror=Theme
2	perceive	gerund		the face					vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer face=Stimulus

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/1362-pg4018-part22/e2/