Exam question 1 · Scottish Fairy Tales, The Red Etin, part 90: the youngest…

In what manner did the youngest son obtain the instrument by which he subdued the beasts?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: youngest son, son · What happens: obtain, subdue · To what, where: instrument, manner, beasts

This is exam question 1 of lesson 1503 «Scottish Fairy Tales, The Red Etin, part 90: the youngest brother gets a magic wand, beats the Etin and frees the king's daughter» 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	In	in	ADP	_	3 manner	case
2	what	what	DET	PronType=Int	3 manner	det
3	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 obtain	obl
4	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 obtain	aux
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 son	det
6	youngest	young	ADJ	Degree=Sup	7 son	amod
7	son	son	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 obtain	nsubj
8	obtain	obtain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 instrument	det
10	instrument	instrument	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 obtain	obj
11	by	by	ADP	_	12 which	case
12	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	14 subdued	obl
13	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 subdued	nsubj
14	subdued	subdue	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 instrument	acl:relcl
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 beasts	det
16	beasts	beast	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 subdued	obj
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 obtain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	obtain	past · do-support	the youngest son	the instrument		what manner			vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent instrument=Theme
2	subdue	past	son	the beasts				by the instrument	vn subjugate-42.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent beast=Patient

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

He was given a wand by the old raven

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 given	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 given	aux:pass
3	given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 wand	det
5	wand	wand	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 given	obj
6	by	by	ADP	_	9 raven	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 raven	det
8	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 raven	amod
9	raven	raven	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 given	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	past · passive	the old raven	He					vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent subject=Recipient wand=Theme

Option 2

He stole a sceptre from the Etin's hall

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 stole	nsubj
2	stole	steal	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 sceptre	det
4	sceptre	sceptre	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 stole	obj
5	from	from	ADP	_	9 hall	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Etin	det
7	Etin	Etin	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 hall	nmod:poss
8	's	's	PART	_	7 Etin	case
9	hall	hall	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 stole	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	steal	past	He	a sceptre		the Etin's hall			vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent sceptre=Theme from hall=Source

Option 3

A wand fae fairy

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 wand	det
2	wand	wand	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	fae	fae	X	_	4 fairy	compound
4	fairy	fairy	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 wand	conj

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

He received a magical wand from the fairy

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 received	nsubj
2	received	receive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 wand	det
4	magical	magical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 wand	amod
5	wand	wand	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 received	obj
6	from	from	ADP	_	8 fairy	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 fairy	det
8	fairy	fairy	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 received	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	receive	past	He	a magical wand				from the fairy	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent wand=Theme from fairy=Source

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/1503-pg503-part90/e1/