Exam question 4 · Contes, The Pied Piper of Hamel, part 49: Drakestail becom…

Which of the following best characterises the conduct of the Town Counsellor with regard to the piper's bargain?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: best, piper · What happens: follow, characteris, conduct, bargain · To what, where: conduct, Town Counsellor

This is exam question 4 of lesson 1552 «Contes, The Pied Piper of Hamel, part 49: Drakestail becomes king, and the piper clears Hamel of rats, then the children vanish» 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	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 characterises	obj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 best	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 best	det
4	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 best	case
5	best	good	ADJ	Degree=Sup	6 characterises	nsubj
6	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 conduct	det
8	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 characterises	obj
9	of	of	ADP	_	12 Counsellor	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 Counsellor	det
11	Town	Town	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 Counsellor	compound
12	Counsellor	counsellor	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 conduct	nmod
13	with	with	ADP	_	14 regard	case
14	regard	regard	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 Counsellor	nmod
15	to	to	ADP	_	19 bargain	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 piper	det
17	piper	piper	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 bargain	nmod:poss
18	's	's	PART	_	17 piper	case
19	bargain	bargain	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 regard	nmod
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the best	the conduct of the Town Counsellor with regard to the piper's bargain	tree rules
3	conduct			the Town Counsellor with regard to the piper's bargain	nom conduct «act transitive»: of=patient
4	bargain		the piper		nom bargain «communication 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 · ← Mova's choice

He reckoned the heads first and then refused payment entirely to the piper

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 reckoned	nsubj
2	reckoned	reckon	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 heads	det
4	heads	head	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 reckoned	obj
5	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	2 reckoned	advmod
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 refused	cc
7	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	8 refused	advmod
8	refused	refuse	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 reckoned	conj
9	payment	payment	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 refused	obj
10	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	8 refused	advmod
11	to	to	ADP	_	13 piper	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 piper	det
13	piper	piper	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 refused	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reckon	past	He	the heads				first property	vn consider-29.9-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent head=Attribute
2	refuse	past	He not said here	payment			then	to the piper; entirely property	vn reject-77.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent payment=Theme

Option 2

He withheld payment by means of a clever stratagem and a lie

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 withheld	nsubj
2	withheld	withhold	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	payment	payment	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 withheld	obj
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 means	case
5	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 withheld	parataxis
6	of	of	ADP	_	9 stratagem	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 stratagem	det
8	clever	clever	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 stratagem	amod
9	stratagem	stratagem	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 means	obl
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 lie	cc
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 lie	det
12	lie	lie	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 stratagem	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	withhold	past	He	payment					tree rules
2	mean	present						of a clever stratagem and a lie	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

He withheld payment by a stratagem

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 withheld	nsubj
2	withheld	withhold	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	payment	payment	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 withheld	obj
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 stratagem	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 stratagem	det
6	stratagem	stratagem	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 withheld	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	withhold	past	He	payment				by a stratagem	tree rules

Option 4

He broke his word openly

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 broke	nsubj
2	broke	break	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 word	nmod:poss
4	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 broke	obj
5	openly	openly	ADV	_	2 broke	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	break	past	He	his word				openly property	vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer word=Patient
2	word		his = he						nom word «communication 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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