Exam question 3 · Arabian Nights, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, part 57: C…

State the manner in which the robbers disposed of the body of Cassim within the cave.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, robbers · What happens: state, dispose · To what, where: manner

This is exam question 3 of lesson 1470 «Arabian Nights, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, part 57: Cassim is killed and the thieves send a spy» 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	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 State	obj
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 disposed	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 robbers	det
7	robbers	robber	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 disposed	nsubj
8	disposed	dispose	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 manner	acl:relcl
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 body	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 body	det
11	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 disposed	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 Cassim	case
13	Cassim	Cassim	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 body	nmod
14	within	within	ADP	_	16 cave	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 cave	det
16	cave	cave	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 disposed	obl
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 State	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	state speech: other	imperative	you not said here	the manner					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent manner=Topic
2	dispose	past	the robbers			the manner		of the body of Cassim; within the cave	vn addict-96 «NP V NP PP.Theme»: agent=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

tied with heavy ropes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	tied	tie	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
2	with	with	ADP	_	4 ropes	case
3	heavy	heavy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 ropes	amod
4	ropes	rope	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 tied	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tie	participle						with heavy ropes	vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V ADVP-Middle PP»: agent=Patient with rope=Co-Patient

Option 2

cut into quarters and hung up beside the door of the cave

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	cut	cut	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	into	into	ADP	_	3 quarters	case
3	quarters	quarter	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 cut	obl
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 hung	cc
5	hung	hang	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	1 cut	conj
6	up	up	ADP	_	5 hung	compound:prt
7	beside	beside	ADP	_	9 door	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 door	det
9	door	door	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 hung	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 cave	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 cave	det
12	cave	cave	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 door	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cut	imperative	you not said here					into quarters	vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent into quarter=Patient
2	hang up	past	you not said here			the door of the cave			vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent beside door=Location

Option 3

chopped into many pieces and thrown into the deep well outside

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	chopped	chop	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
2	into	into	ADP	_	4 pieces	case
3	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 pieces	amod
4	pieces	piece	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 chopped	obl
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 thrown	cc
6	thrown	throw	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 chopped	conj
7	into	into	ADP	_	9 deep	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 deep	det
9	deep	deep	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 thrown	obl
10	well	well	ADV	Degree=Pos	6 thrown	advmod
11	outside	outside	ADV	_	6 thrown	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	chop	participle						into many pieces	vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent into piece=Patient
2	throw	participle						into the deep result; outside, well property	vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Causer into deep=Result

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

cut into four quarters

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	cut	cut	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	into	into	ADP	_	4 quarters	case
3	four	four	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 quarters	nummod
4	quarters	quarter	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 cut	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cut	imperative	you not said here					into four quarters	vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent into quarter=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1470-pg503-part57/e3/