Exam question 2 · Popular Tales from the Norse, The Master-maid: the bailiff…

Which of the following accurately identifies the object that the Master-maid instructed the bailiff to hold?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Master maid · What happens: follow, identify, instruct, hold · To what, where: object, bailiff

This is exam question 2 of lesson 1445 «Popular Tales from the Norse, The Master-maid: the bailiff is tricked into chasing a calf all night, and at last the wedding is held» 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 identifies	nsubj
2	of	of	SCONJ	_	6 identifies	mark
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 identifies	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 identifies	nsubj
5	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	6 identifies	advmod
6	identifies	identify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 object	det
8	object	object	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 identifies	obj
9	that	that	SCONJ	_	14 instructed	mark
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 maid	det
11	Master	master	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 maid	compound
12	-	-	PUNCT	_	11 Master	punct
13	maid	maid	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 instructed	nsubj
14	instructed	instruct	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 object	acl
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 bailiff	det
16	bailiff	bailiff	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 instructed	obj
17	to	to	PART	_	18 hold	mark
18	hold	hold	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	16 bailiff	acl
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 identifies	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	identify	present		the object	accurately property	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent object=Theme
3	instruct speech: other	past	the Master maid	the bailiff		vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent bailiff=Recipient
4	hold	to-infinitive	the Master maid not said here	the bailiff not said here		vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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 · ✓ the right answer

The calf's tail

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 calf	det
2	calf	calf	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 tail	nmod:poss
3	's	's	PART	_	2 calf	case
4	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 2

The calf's tail and the sack of money together

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 calf	det
2	calf	calf	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 tail	nmod:poss
3	's	's	PART	_	2 calf	case
4	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 sack	cc
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 sack	det
7	sack	sack	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 tail	conj
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 money	case
9	money	money	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 sack	nmod
10	together	together	ADV	_	4 tail	advmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 3

The shovel-handle, held firmly by both hands in the byre

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 handle	det
2	shovel	shovel	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 handle	compound
3	-	-	PUNCT	_	2 shovel	punct
4	handle	handle	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 held	punct
6	held	hold	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 handle	acl
7	firmly	firmly	ADV	_	6 held	advmod
8	by	by	ADP	_	10 hands	case
9	both	both	DET	PronType=Tot	10 hands	det
10	hands	hand	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 held	obl
11	in	in	ADP	_	13 byre	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 byre	det
13	byre	byre	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 held	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hold	participle		the shovel handle not said here		the byre		by both hands; firmly property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by hand=Location

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

The calf's horn

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 calf	det
2	calf	calf	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 horn	nmod:poss
3	's	's	PART	_	2 calf	case
4	horn	horn	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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/1445-pg503-part32/e2/