Exam question 3 · Perrault's Popular Tales, Little Thumb, part 55: lost agai…

State the precise object which Little Thumb employed to mark the path, and its subsequent fate.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: Little Thumb, path · What happens: employ, mark, fate · To what, where: State precise object, path

This is exam question 3 of lesson 1468 «Perrault's Popular Tales, Little Thumb, part 55: lost again, the children reach the ogre's house» 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	State	state	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 object	compound
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 object	det
3	precise	precise	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 object	amod
4	object	object	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 employed	obj
6	Little	Little	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 Thumb	amod
7	Thumb	Thumb	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 employed	nsubj
8	employed	employ	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 object	acl:relcl
9	to	to	PART	_	10 mark	mark
10	mark	mark	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 employed	xcomp
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 path	det
12	path	path	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 mark	obj
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 fate	punct
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	17 fate	cc
15	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	17 fate	nmod:poss
16	subsequent	subsequent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 fate	amod
17	fate	fate	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 object	conj
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	4 object	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	employ	past	Little Thumb	the State precise object and path's subsequent fate	vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent which=Theme clause=Attribute
2	mark	to-infinitive	Little Thumb not said here	the path	vn image_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent path=Destination
3	fate		path		nom fate «event transitive»: 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 right answer

Bread, which was devoured by birds leaving no trace of it

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Bread	bread	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 devoured	punct
3	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 devoured	nsubj:pass
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 devoured	aux:pass
5	devoured	devour	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Bread	amod
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 birds	case
7	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 devoured	obl:agent
8	leaving	leave	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 birds	acl
9	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	10 trace	det
10	trace	trace	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 leaving	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 it	case
12	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 trace	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	devour	past · passive	birds	Bread					vn devour-39.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient
2	leave	gerund	birds not said here	no trace of trace					vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent trace=Theme

Option 2

Pebbles, lost in the grass

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Pebbles	pebble	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 lost	nsubj:pass
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 lost	punct
3	lost	lose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 grass	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 grass	det
6	grass	grass	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 lost	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lose	participle · passive		Pebbles		the grass			vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality

Option 3

Crumbs, which were swept away

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Crumbs	crumb	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 swept	punct
3	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 swept	nsubj:pass
4	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 swept	aux:pass
5	swept	sweep	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Crumbs	acl:relcl
6	away	away	ADV	_	5 swept	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sweep away	past · passive		Crumbs				away property	vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Trajectory

Option 4

Bread, which the birds ate up

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Bread	bread	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 ate	nsubj
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 ate	punct
3	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 ate	obj
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 birds	det
5	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 ate	nsubj
6	ate	eat	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	up	up	ADP	_	6 ate	compound:prt

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	eat up	past	Bread						vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Patient

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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