Exam question 4 · Blue Fairy Book, The Bronze Ring: the mice win back the ri…

What, according to the narrative, was the precise reason the three mice resolved to abandon their homeland?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: accord, be, resolve, abandon · To what, where: precise reason, three mice, homeland

This is exam question 4 of lesson 1416 «Blue Fairy Book, The Bronze Ring: the mice win back the ring, then lose it at sea» 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	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 reason	punct
3	according	accord	VERB	ExtPos=ADP Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 narrative	case
4	to	to	ADP	_	3 according	fixed
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 narrative	det
6	narrative	narrative	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 reason	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 narrative	punct
8	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	11 reason	cop
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 reason	det
10	precise	precise	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 reason	amod
11	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 What	acl:relcl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 mice	det
13	three	three	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	14 mice	nummod
14	mice	mouse	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 reason	nmod
15	resolved	resolve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 mice	acl
16	to	to	PART	_	17 abandon	mark
17	abandon	abandon	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	15 resolved	xcomp
18	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	19 homeland	nmod:poss
19	homeland	homeland	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 abandon	obj
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	1 What	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	accord	gerund			vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent
2	is a	past	the precise reason	accord the narrative; the three mice nmod	tree rules
3	resolve	participle	the three mice not said here		tree rules
4	abandon	to-infinitive	mice's homeland		vn leave-51.2 «NP V NP.initial_location»: agent=Theme homeland=Source

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

They wanted to build a palace on the sandy island

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 wanted	nsubj
2	wanted	want	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 build	mark
4	build	build	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 wanted	xcomp
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 palace	det
6	palace	palace	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 build	obj
7	on	on	ADP	_	10 island	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 island	det
9	sandy	sandy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 island	amod
10	island	island	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 build	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	want	past	They						vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme
2	build not said to happen	to-infinitive	They not said here	a palace		the sandy island			vn base-97.1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent palace=Theme on island=Source

Option 2

They believed the queen would exile them forever if they ever returned to their country without the ring

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 believed	nsubj
2	believed	believe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 queen	det
4	queen	queen	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 exile	nsubj
5	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 exile	aux
6	exile	exile	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 believed	ccomp
7	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 exile	obj
8	forever	forever	ADV	_	6 exile	advmod
9	if	if	SCONJ	_	12 returned	mark
10	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 returned	nsubj
11	ever	ever	ADV	PronType=Ind	12 returned	advmod
12	returned	return	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 exile	advcl
13	to	to	ADP	_	15 country	case
14	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	15 country	nmod:poss
15	country	country	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 returned	obl
16	without	without	ADP	_	18 ring	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 ring	det
18	ring	ring	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 returned	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	believe	past	They				vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus
2	exile	would	the queen	them = they		forever property	vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme
3	return a condition, not said to happen	past	they		ever	to their country result; without the ring	vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Patient to country=Result

Option 3

They feared the captain would sink their ship at sea

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 feared	nsubj
2	feared	fear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 captain	det
4	captain	captain	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 sink	nsubj
5	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 sink	aux
6	sink	sink	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 feared	ccomp
7	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 ship	nmod:poss
8	ship	ship	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 sink	obj
9	at	at	ADP	_	10 sea	case
10	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 sink	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fear	past	They						vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus
2	sink	would	the captain	their ship		sea			vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent ship=Patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

They believed they could not return to their country after losing the talisman

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 believed	nsubj
2	believed	believe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 return	nsubj
4	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 return	aux
5	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	6 return	advmod
6	return	return	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 believed	ccomp
7	to	to	ADP	_	9 country	case
8	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 country	nmod:poss
9	country	country	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 return	obl
10	after	after	SCONJ	_	11 losing	mark
11	losing	lose	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 return	advcl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 talisman	det
13	talisman	talisman	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 losing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	believe	past	They			vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus
2	not return	could	they		to their country result	vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Patient to country=Result
3	lose	gerund	they not said here	the talisman		vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent talisman=Eventuality

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/1416-pg503-part3/e4/