Exam question 4 · Perrault's Popular Tales, Little Thumb, part 55: lost agai…

Describe the manner in which the Ogre's wife attempted to preserve the children from her husband's violence.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, wife · What happens: describe, attempt, preserve · To what, where: manner, children

This is exam question 4 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	Describe	describe	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 manner	det
3	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Describe	obj
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 attempted	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Ogre	det
7	Ogre	Ogre	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 wife	nmod:poss
8	's	's	PART	_	7 Ogre	case
9	wife	wife	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 attempted	nsubj
10	attempted	attempt	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 manner	acl:relcl
11	to	to	PART	_	12 preserve	mark
12	preserve	preserve	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 attempted	xcomp
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 children	det
14	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 preserve	obj
15	from	from	ADP	_	19 violence	case
16	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	17 husband	nmod:poss
17	husband	husband	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 violence	nmod:poss
18	's	's	PART	_	17 husband	case
19	violence	violence	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 preserve	obl
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Describe	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	other	roles by
1	describe	imperative	you not said here	the manner				vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent manner=Theme
2	attempt	past	the Ogre's wife			the manner		vn try-61.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
3	preserve not said to happen	to-infinitive	the Ogre's wife not said here		the children		from wife's husband's violence	vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent child=Beneficiary from violence=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

She begged him to delay the killing

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 begged	nsubj
2	begged	beg	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 begged	obj
4	to	to	PART	_	5 delay	mark
5	delay	delay	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 begged	advcl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 killing	det
7	killing	killing	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 delay	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	beg speech: request	past	She		him = he				vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.Topic»: agent=Agent he=Recipient
2	delay	to-infinitive	She not said here	the killing					vn delay-53.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent killing=Source

Option 2

She locked them in a chest and begged him to keep them alive for another week

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 locked	nsubj
2	locked	lock	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 locked	obj
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 chest	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 chest	det
6	chest	chest	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 locked	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 begged	cc
8	begged	beg	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 locked	conj
9	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 begged	obj
10	to	to	PART	_	11 keep	mark
11	keep	keep	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 begged	advcl
12	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 keep	obj
13	alive	alive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 keep	xcomp
14	for	for	ADP	_	16 week	case
15	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	16 week	det
16	week	week	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 keep	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lock	past	She	them = they		a chest			vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient
2	beg speech: request	past	She not said here		him = he				vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.Topic»: agent=Agent he=Recipient
3	keep	to-infinitive	She not said here	them = they			week	alive property	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme

Option 3

She hid them beneath the bed and urged him to postpone the slaughter until morning

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 hid	nsubj
2	hid	hide	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 hid	obj
4	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	6 bed	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 bed	det
6	bed	bed	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 hid	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 urged	cc
8	urged	urge	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 hid	conj
9	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 urged	iobj
10	to	to	PART	_	11 postpone	mark
11	postpone	postpone	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 urged	xcomp
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 slaughter	det
13	slaughter	slaughter	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 postpone	obj
14	until	until	ADP	_	15 morning	case
15	morning	morning	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 postpone	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	roles by
1	hide	past	She	them = they		the bed		vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent they=Patient beneath bed=Location
2	urge	past	She not said here		him = he			vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic
3	postpone not said to happen	to-infinitive	She not said here	the slaughter			morning	vn delay-53.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent slaughter=Eventuality

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

She concealed them beneath the bed and urged him to postpone their slaughter

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 concealed	nsubj
2	concealed	conceal	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 concealed	obj
4	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	6 bed	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 bed	det
6	bed	bed	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 concealed	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 urged	cc
8	urged	urge	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 concealed	conj
9	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 urged	iobj
10	to	to	PART	_	11 postpone	mark
11	postpone	postpone	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 urged	xcomp
12	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 slaughter	nmod:poss
13	slaughter	slaughter	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 postpone	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	roles by
1	conceal	past	She	them = they		the bed	vn concealment-16 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent they=Patient beneath bed=Location
2	urge	past	She not said here		him = he		vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic
3	postpone not said to happen	to-infinitive	She not said here	their slaughter			vn delay-53.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent slaughter=Eventuality
4	slaughter		their = they				nom slaughter «act transitive»: poss=agent

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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