Exam question 4 · Oz, The Cowardly Lion, part 7: a Lion attacks the travelle…

Explain the purpose of the Scarecrow's action in seizing the oil-can from Dorothy's basket.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, action, Scarecrow · What happens: explain, seize, purpose, act · To what, where: purpose, oil

This is exam question 4 of lesson 1592 «Oz, The Cowardly Lion, part 7: a Lion attacks the travellers, is slapped, and joins them» 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	Explain	explain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 purpose	det
3	purpose	purpose	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Explain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	8 action	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Scarecrow	det
6	Scarecrow	Scarecrow	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 action	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 Scarecrow	case
8	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 purpose	nmod
9	in	in	SCONJ	_	10 seizing	mark
10	seizing	seize	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	14 can	advcl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 oil	det
12	oil	oil	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 seizing	obj
13	-	-	PUNCT	_	10 seizing	punct
14	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	1 Explain	advcl
15	from	from	ADP	_	18 basket	case
16	Dorothy	Dorothy	PROPN	Number=Sing	18 basket	nmod:poss
17	's	's	PART	_	16 Dorothy	case
18	basket	basket	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 can	obl
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Explain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	explain speech: assert	imperative	you not said here	the purpose of the Scarecrow's action	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent purpose=Topic
2	seize	gerund	you not said here	the oil	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent oil=Theme
3	purpose		the Scarecrow's action		nom purpose «cognition intransitive»: of=agent
4	act		the Scarecrow		nom action «act 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 wanted the oil.

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 wanted	nsubj
2	wanted	want	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 oil	det
4	oil	oil	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 wanted	obj
5	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 wanted	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	want	past	He	the oil					vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot oil=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

He oiled the Woodman's jaws so that he could speak again.

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 oiled	nsubj
2	oiled	oil	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 Woodman	det
4	Woodman	Woodman	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 jaws	nmod:poss
5	's	's	PART	_	4 Woodman	case
6	jaws	jaw	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 oiled	obj
7	so	so	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	11 speak	mark
8	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 so	fixed
9	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 speak	nsubj
10	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	11 speak	aux
11	speak	speak	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 oiled	advcl
12	again	again	ADV	_	11 speak	advmod
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 oiled	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	oil	past	He	the Woodman's jaws					vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent jaw=Destination
2	speak speech: other	could	he				again		vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

He hoped to sell the oil at market.

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 hoped	nsubj
2	hoped	hope	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 sell	mark
4	sell	sell	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 hoped	xcomp
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 oil	det
6	oil	oil	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 sell	obj
7	at	at	ADP	_	8 market	case
8	market	market	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 sell	obl
9	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 hoped	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hope	past	He						vn long-32.2 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme
2	sell not said to happen	to-infinitive	He not said here	the oil		market			vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent oil=Theme at market=Asset

Option 4

He wanted to keep the basket for himself.

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 wanted	nsubj
2	wanted	want	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 keep	mark
4	keep	keep	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 wanted	xcomp
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 basket	det
6	basket	basket	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 keep	obj
7	for	for	ADP	_	8 himself	case
8	himself	himself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	4 keep	obl
9	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 wanted	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	want	past	He						vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme
2	keep not said to happen	to-infinitive	He not said here	the basket				for himself = he	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent basket=Theme

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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