Exam question 1 · Perseus book, The Terrible Head, part 44: the boy wins the…

Which of the following accurately states the means by which the boy first obtains the Gray Sisters' eye?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: boy · What happens: follow, state, mean, obtain · To what, where: eye

This is exam question 1 of lesson 1457 «Perseus book, The Terrible Head, part 44: the boy wins the Cap, Sword and Shoes on his quest» 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	8 means	nsubj
2	of	of	SCONJ	_	6 states	mark
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 states	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 states	nsubj
5	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	6 states	advmod
6	states	state	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 means	advcl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 means	nsubj
8	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	by	by	ADP	_	10 which	case
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	14 obtains	obl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 boy	det
12	boy	boy	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 obtains	nsubj
13	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	14 obtains	advmod
14	obtains	obtain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 means	parataxis
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 Sisters	det
16	Gray	Gray	PROPN	Number=Sing	17 Sisters	amod
17	Sisters	Sister	PROPN	Number=Plur	19 eye	nmod:poss
18	'	's	PART	_	17 Sisters	case
19	eye	eye	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 obtains	obj
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 means	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			accurately property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
3	mean	present				vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
4	obtain	present	the boy	the Gray Sisters's eye	first property	vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent eye=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 · ← Mova's choice

He snatches the eye from the first sister as it passes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 snatches	nsubj
2	snatches	snatch	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 eye	det
4	eye	eye	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 snatches	obj
5	from	from	ADP	_	8 sister	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 sister	det
7	first	first	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	8 sister	amod
8	sister	sister	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 snatches	obl
9	as	as	SCONJ	_	11 passes	mark
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 passes	nsubj
11	passes	pass	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 snatches	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	snatch	present	He	the eye				from the first sister	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent eye=Theme from sister=Source
2	pass	present	eye						vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

He pretends to be a fairy and asks them to lend him the eye so that he can look at the road ahead of them

The tree, 25 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 pretends	nsubj
2	pretends	pretend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	6 fairy	mark
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 fairy	cop
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 fairy	det
6	fairy	fairy	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 pretends	xcomp
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 asks	cc
8	asks	ask	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 pretends	conj
9	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 asks	obj
10	to	to	PART	_	11 lend	mark
11	lend	lend	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 asks	xcomp
12	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 lend	obj
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 eye	det
14	eye	eye	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 lend	obj
15	so	so	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	19 look	mark
16	that	that	SCONJ	_	15 so	fixed
17	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	19 look	nsubj
18	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	19 look	aux
19	look	look	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	11 lend	advcl
20	at	at	ADP	_	22 road	case
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 road	det
22	road	road	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 look	obl
23	ahead	ahead	ADV	_	19 look	advmod
24	of	of	ADP	_	25 them	case
25	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	23 ahead	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	other	roles by
1	pretend	present	He				tree rules
2	is a	to-infinitive	He not said here	a fairy			tree rules
3	ask speech: ask	present	He not said here		them = they		vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic
4	lend not said to happen	to-infinitive	He not said here	the eye	fairy		vn give-13.1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient eye=Theme
5	look	can	fairy			at the road; ahead property	vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at road=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

He seizes the eye from the second sister as it is passed to her

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 seizes	nsubj
2	seizes	seize	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 eye	det
4	eye	eye	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 seizes	obj
5	from	from	ADP	_	8 sister	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 sister	det
7	second	second	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	8 sister	amod
8	sister	sister	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 seizes	obl
9	as	as	SCONJ	_	12 passed	mark
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 passed	nsubj:pass
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 passed	aux:pass
12	passed	pass	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 seizes	advcl
13	to	to	ADP	_	14 her	case
14	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 passed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	seize	present	He	the eye				from the second sister	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent eye=Theme from sister=Source
2	pass	present · passive		eye	her = she				vn give-13.1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Theme to she=Recipient

Option 4

He tricks the sisters into handing the eye over

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 tricks	nsubj
2	tricks	trick	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 sisters	det
4	sisters	sister	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 tricks	obj
5	into	into	SCONJ	_	6 handing	mark
6	handing	hand	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 tricks	advcl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 eye	det
8	eye	eye	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 handing	obj
9	over	over	ADV	_	6 handing	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	trick	present	He	the sisters					vn trick-59.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sister=Patient
2	hand over	gerund	He not said here	the eye				over property	vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent eye=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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