Exam question 3 · Popular Tales from the Norse, The Master-maid: the bailiff…

Which of the following accurately states the reason the coach failed to move before the calf was harnessed?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: coach · What happens: follow, state, fail, not move, harness · To what, where: reason, calf

This is exam question 3 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	4 following	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 following	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 following	det
4	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	6 states	advmod
6	states	state	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 following	advcl
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	10 coach	det
10	coach	coach	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 failed	nsubj
11	failed	fail	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 reason	acl:relcl
12	to	to	PART	_	13 move	mark
13	move	move	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	11 failed	xcomp
14	before	before	SCONJ	_	18 harnessed	mark
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 calf	det
16	calf	calf	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 harnessed	nsubj:pass
17	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	18 harnessed	aux:pass
18	harnessed	harness	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 move	advcl
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 following	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	fail	past	the coach	the reason not said here		tree rules
4	not move	to-infinitive	the coach not said here			vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme
5	harness	past · passive		the calf		vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: subject=Destination

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 wood was too rotten and the horses were far too tired to pull

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 wood	det
2	wood	wood	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 rotten	nsubj
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 rotten	cop
4	too	too	ADV	_	5 rotten	advmod
5	rotten	rotten	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 tired	cc
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 horses	det
8	horses	horse	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 tired	nsubj
9	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	12 tired	cop
10	far	far	ADV	Degree=Pos	12 tired	advmod
11	too	too	ADV	_	12 tired	advmod
12	tired	tired	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 rotten	conj
13	to	to	PART	_	14 pull	mark
14	pull	pull	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 tired	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	is	past	the wood	rotten property	tree rules
2	is	past	the horses	far, tired property	tree rules
3	pull	to-infinitive	the horses not said here		vn slide-11.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

The wheels were stuck fast

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 wheels	det
2	wheels	wheel	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 stuck	nsubj
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 stuck	cop
4	stuck	stuck	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	fast	fast	ADV	Degree=Pos	4 stuck	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	the wheels					fast, stuck property	tree rules

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The horses could not draw it

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 horses	det
2	horses	horse	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 draw	nsubj
3	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 draw	aux
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 draw	advmod
5	draw	draw	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 draw	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not draw	could	the horses	it					vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme

Option 4

The horses could not draw it until the calf was harnessed in the front

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 horses	det
2	horses	horse	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 draw	nsubj
3	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 draw	aux
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 draw	advmod
5	draw	draw	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 draw	obj
7	until	until	SCONJ	_	11 harnessed	mark
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 calf	det
9	calf	calf	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 harnessed	nsubj:pass
10	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	11 harnessed	aux:pass
11	harnessed	harness	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 draw	advcl
12	in	in	ADP	_	14 front	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 front	det
14	front	front	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 harnessed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not draw	could	the horses	it					vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme
2	harness	past · passive		the calf		the front			vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: subject=Destination

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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