Exam question 1 · Aesop's Fables, The Ass and His Burdens: a clever donkey t…

State the occupation of the owner of the Ass, as described in the passage.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: state, describe, occupy · To what, where: occupation, passage, owner

This is exam question 1 of lesson 137 «Aesop's Fables, The Ass and His Burdens: a clever donkey tries to cheat his master with salt and sponges» 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	State	state	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 occupation	det
3	occupation	occupation	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 State	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 owner	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 owner	det
6	owner	owner	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 occupation	nmod
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 Ass	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 Ass	det
9	Ass	ass	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 owner	nmod
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 described	punct
11	as	as	SCONJ	_	12 described	mark
12	described	describe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 State	parataxis
13	in	in	ADP	_	15 passage	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 passage	det
15	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 described	obl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 State	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	state speech: other	imperative	you not said here	the occupation of the owner of the Ass		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent occupation=Topic
2	describe	participle			the passage	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent
3	occupy			the owner of the Ass		nom occupation «act transitive»: of=patient

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

A Pedlar, a seller of goods who lived in the town and rode a donkey to market each day

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 Pedlar	det
2	Pedlar	pedlar	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 seller	punct
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 seller	det
5	seller	seller	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 Pedlar	appos
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 goods	case
7	goods	goods	NOUN	Number=Ptan	5 seller	nmod
8	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 lived	nsubj
9	lived	live	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 goods	acl:relcl
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 town	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 town	det
12	town	town	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 lived	obl
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 rode	cc
14	rode	ride	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 lived	conj
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 donkey	det
16	donkey	donkey	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 rode	obj
17	to	to	PART	_	18 market	mark
18	market	market	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 rode	xcomp
19	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	20 day	det
20	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 rode	obl:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	live	past	goods			the town			vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in town=Location
2	ride	past	goods not said here	a donkey			day		vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent donkey=Theme

Option 2

A Pedlar, a travelling seller of goods who walked from village to village with a donkey

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 Pedlar	det
2	Pedlar	pedlar	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 seller	punct
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 seller	det
5	travelling	travel	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 seller	amod
6	seller	seller	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 Pedlar	appos
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 goods	case
8	goods	goods	NOUN	Number=Ptan	6 seller	nmod
9	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 walked	nsubj
10	walked	walk	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 seller	acl:relcl
11	from	from	ADP	_	12 village	case
12	village	village	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 walked	obl
13	to	to	ADP	_	14 village	case
14	village	village	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 walked	obl
15	with	with	ADP	_	17 donkey	case
16	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 donkey	det
17	donkey	donkey	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 walked	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	travel	gerund							vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	walk	past	a travelling seller of goods			village		to village result; with a donkey	vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to village=Result

Option 3

A Pedlar, a travelling buyer of goods

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 Pedlar	det
2	Pedlar	pedlar	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 buyer	punct
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 buyer	det
5	travelling	travel	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 buyer	amod
6	buyer	buyer	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 Pedlar	appos
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 goods	case
8	goods	goods	NOUN	Number=Ptan	6 buyer	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	travel	gerund							vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

A Pedlar, a travelling seller of goods

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 Pedlar	det
2	Pedlar	pedlar	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 seller	punct
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 seller	det
5	travelling	travel	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 seller	amod
6	seller	seller	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 Pedlar	appos
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 goods	case
8	goods	goods	NOUN	Number=Ptan	6 seller	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	travel	gerund							vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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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