Exam question 3 · The Violet Fairy Book, How the Dragon Was Tricked, part 2:…

By what means did the youth ensure that the dragon could not escape from the box?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: youth, dragon · What happens: mean, do, ensure, not escape · To what, where: box

This is exam question 3 of lesson 1613 «The Violet Fairy Book, How the Dragon Was Tricked, part 2: a clever youth tricks a king, a shepherd and a dragon» 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	By	by	ADP	_	2 what	case
2	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	4 did	obj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 what	acl:relcl
4	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 youth	det
6	youth	youth	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 ensure	nsubj
7	ensure	ensure	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 did	ccomp
8	that	that	SCONJ	_	13 escape	mark
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 dragon	det
10	dragon	dragon	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 escape	nsubj
11	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	13 escape	aux
12	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	13 escape	advmod
13	escape	escape	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 ensure	ccomp
14	from	from	ADP	_	16 box	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 box	det
16	box	box	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 escape	obl
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 did	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	roles by
1	mean	present			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
2	do	past			tree rules
3	ensure	present	the youth		vn ensure-99 «NP V that S»: agent=Precondition clause=Theme
4	not escape	could	the dragon	the box	vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from box=Initial_Location

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 hammered the lid with iron

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 hammered	nsubj
2	hammered	hammer	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 lid	det
4	lid	lid	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 hammered	obj
5	with	with	ADP	_	6 iron	case
6	iron	iron	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 hammered	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hammer	past	He	the lid				with iron	vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent lid=Patient with iron=Instrument

Option 2

He drove long nails into the lid and sealed every crack with hot wax

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 drove	nsubj
2	drove	drive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 nails	amod
4	nails	nail	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 drove	obj
5	into	into	ADP	_	7 lid	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 lid	det
7	lid	lid	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 drove	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 crack	cc
9	sealed	seal	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 crack	amod
10	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	11 crack	det
11	crack	crack	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 lid	conj
12	with	with	ADP	_	14 wax	case
13	hot	hot	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 wax	amod
14	wax	wax	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 crack	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	drive	past	He	long nails		the lid and every sealed crack with hot wax			vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent nail=Theme into lid=Trajectory
2	seal	participle							vn tape-22.4 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

He carried the box to the river and drove long nails into the lid

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 carried	nsubj
2	carried	carry	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 box	det
4	box	box	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 carried	obj
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 river	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 river	det
7	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 carried	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 drove	cc
9	drove	drive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 carried	conj
10	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 nails	amod
11	nails	nail	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 drove	obj
12	into	into	ADP	_	14 lid	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 lid	det
14	lid	lid	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 drove	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	carry	past	He	the box		the river			vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent box=Theme to river=Destination
2	drive	past	He not said here	long nails		the lid			vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent nail=Theme into lid=Trajectory

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

He drove long nails into the lid

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 drove	nsubj
2	drove	drive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 nails	amod
4	nails	nail	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 drove	obj
5	into	into	ADP	_	7 lid	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 lid	det
7	lid	lid	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 drove	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	drive	past	He	long nails		the lid			vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent nail=Theme into lid=Trajectory

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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