Exam question 1 · Tales (pg503), Hansel and Grettel, part 1: lost in the woo…

Which action of Morgiana is described in the passage as the direct cause of the oil merchant's death?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Morgiana, oil merchant · What happens: describe, act, cause, die · To what, where: action, passage, death

This is exam question 1 of lesson 1472 «Tales (pg503), Hansel and Grettel, part 1: lost in the wood after the pebbles and the crumbs» 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 action	det
2	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 described	nsubj:pass
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 Morgiana	case
4	Morgiana	Morgiana	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 action	nmod
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 described	aux:pass
6	described	describe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 passage	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 passage	det
9	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 described	obl
10	as	as	ADP	_	13 cause	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 cause	det
12	direct	direct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 cause	amod
13	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 described	obl
14	of	of	ADP	_	19 death	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 merchant	det
16	oil	oil	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 merchant	compound
17	merchant	merchant	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 death	nmod:poss
18	's	's	PART	_	17 merchant	case
19	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 cause	nmod
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 described	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	describe	present · passive		which action of Morgiana	the passage	as the direct cause of the oil merchant's death	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: subject=Theme as cause=Attribute
2	act		Morgiana				nom action «act intransitive»: of=agent
3	cause			the oil merchant's death			nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient
4	die		the oil merchant				nom death «event 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

She hid in the jars of oil and then stabbed the sleeping captain in his chest with a dagger

The tree, 19 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	in	in	ADP	_	5 jars	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 jars	det
5	jars	jar	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 hid	obl
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 oil	case
7	oil	oil	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 jars	nmod
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 stabbed	cc
9	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	10 stabbed	advmod
10	stabbed	stab	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 hid	conj
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 captain	det
12	sleeping	sleeping	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 captain	compound
13	captain	captain	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 stabbed	obj
14	in	in	ADP	_	16 chest	case
15	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	16 chest	nmod:poss
16	chest	chest	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 stabbed	obl
17	with	with	ADP	_	19 dagger	case
18	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	19 dagger	det
19	dagger	dagger	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 stabbed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hide	past	She			the jars of oil			vn concealment-16-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in jar=Location
2	stab	past	She not said here	the sleeping captain		his chest	then	with a dagger	vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent captain=Patient with dagger=Instrument

Option 2

Morgiana plunged her dagger into the chest of the captain as he slept by the door of the cave

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Morgiana	Morgiana	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 plunged	nsubj
2	plunged	plunge	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 dagger	nmod:poss
4	dagger	dagger	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 plunged	obj
5	into	into	ADP	_	7 chest	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 chest	det
7	chest	chest	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 plunged	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 captain	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 captain	det
10	captain	captain	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 chest	nmod
11	as	as	SCONJ	_	13 slept	mark
12	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 slept	nsubj
13	slept	sleep	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 plunged	advcl
14	by	by	ADP	_	16 door	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 door	det
16	door	door	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 slept	obl
17	of	of	ADP	_	19 cave	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 cave	det
19	cave	cave	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 door	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	plunge	past	Morgiana	Morgiana's dagger		the chest of the captain			tree rules
2	sleep	past	he					by the door of the cave	vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

She plunged the dagger into the heart of Cogia Hassan

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 plunged	nsubj
2	plunged	plunge	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 dagger	det
4	dagger	dagger	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 plunged	obj
5	into	into	ADP	_	7 heart	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 heart	det
7	heart	heart	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 plunged	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 Hassan	case
9	Cogia	Cogia	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 Hassan	compound
10	Hassan	Hassan	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 heart	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	plunge	past	She	the dagger		the heart of Cogia Hassan			tree rules

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

She set fire to the house of the merchant

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 set	nsubj
2	set	set	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	fire	fire	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 set	obj
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 house	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 house	det
6	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 set	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 merchant	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 merchant	det
9	merchant	merchant	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 house	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	set	past	She	fire				to the house of the merchant	vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient fire=Result

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/1472-pg503-part59/e1/