Exam question 1 · Blue Fairy Book, Perseus: the Terrible Head turns the wick…

Which object did the hero employ to avoid direct sight of the Terrible Head during his approach?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: object · What happens: do, avoid, sight, approach · To what, where: hero employ, direct sight, Terrible Head

This is exam question 1 of lesson 1458 «Blue Fairy Book, Perseus: the Terrible Head turns the wicked King to stone» 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	DET	PronType=Int	2 object	det
2	object	object	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 did	nsubj
3	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 employ	det
5	hero	hero	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 employ	compound
6	employ	employ	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 did	obj
7	to	to	PART	_	8 avoid	mark
8	avoid	avoid	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 employ	acl
9	direct	direct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 sight	amod
10	sight	sight	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 avoid	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 Head	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 Head	det
13	Terrible	terrible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 Head	amod
14	Head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 sight	nmod
15	during	during	ADP	_	17 approach	case
16	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	17 approach	nmod:poss
17	approach	approach	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 avoid	obl
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 did	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	do	past	which object	the hero employ		vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent employ=Eventuality
2	avoid	to-infinitive	which object not said here	direct sight of the Terrible Head	during object's approach	vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent sight=Location
3	sight			the Terrible Head		nom sight «cognition transitive»: of=patient
4	approach		object			nom approach «act intransitive»: poss=agent

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

The Cap of Darkness, worn tight

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Cap	det
2	Cap	cap	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 Darkness	case
4	Darkness	darkness	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 Cap	nmod
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 worn	punct
6	worn	wear	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 Cap	acl
7	tight	tight	ADV	_	6 worn	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	wear	participle		the Cap of Darkness not said here				tight property	vn wipe_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

His polished shield, used as a mirror

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	His	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 shield	nmod:poss
2	polished	polish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 shield	amod
3	shield	shield	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 used	punct
5	used	use	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 shield	acl
6	as	as	ADP	_	8 mirror	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 mirror	det
8	mirror	mirror	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 used	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	polish	participle							vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent
2	use	participle		His polished shield not said here				as a mirror	vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

His bronze sword, held before him

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	His	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 sword	nmod:poss
2	bronze	bronze	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 sword	amod
3	sword	sword	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 held	nsubj:pass
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 sword	punct
5	held	hold	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	before	before	ADP	_	7 him	case
7	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 held	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hold	participle · passive		His bronze sword			before him = he		vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme before he=Location

Option 4

The winged Shoes that carried him swiftly past the cliffs and kept his eyes shut tight

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 Shoes	det
2	winged	wing	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 Shoes	amod
3	Shoes	shoe	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 kept	nsubj
4	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 carried	nsubj
5	carried	carry	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 Shoes	acl:relcl
6	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 carried	obj
7	swiftly	swiftly	ADV	_	5 carried	advmod
8	past	past	ADP	_	10 cliffs	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 cliffs	det
10	cliffs	cliff	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 carried	obl
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 carried	cc
12	kept	keep	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
13	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 eyes	nmod:poss
14	eyes	eye	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 kept	obj
15	shut	shut	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 kept	xcomp
16	tight	tight	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 kept	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	wing	participle				vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent
2	carry	past	the winged Shoes	him = he	past the cliffs; swiftly property	vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme
3	keep	past	the winged Shoes	his eyes	shut, tight property	vn keep-15.2 «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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