Exam question 3 · Arabian Nights, The Merchant and the Genius, part 2: Scheh…

What was the principal object of Scheherazade's narration to the Sultan on the morning following her marriage?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: morning, Scheherazade · What happens: be, follow, narrate, marry · To what, where: principal object, marriage

This is exam question 3 of lesson 162 «Arabian Nights, The Merchant and the Genius, part 2: Scheherazade wins more days by telling a tale of a merchant facing a fierce genie» 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	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	5 object	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 object	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 object	det
4	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 object	amod
5	object	object	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	of	of	ADP	_	9 narration	case
7	Scheherazade	Scheherazade	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 narration	nmod:poss
8	's	's	PART	_	7 Scheherazade	case
9	narration	narration	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 object	nmod
10	to	to	ADP	_	12 Sultan	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 Sultan	det
12	Sultan	Sultan	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 narration	nmod
13	on	on	ADP	_	15 morning	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 morning	det
15	morning	morning	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 object	nmod
16	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	15 morning	acl
17	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	18 marriage	nmod:poss
18	marriage	marriage	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 following	obj
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 object	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past		the principal object	morning	of Scheherazade's narration to the Sultan	tree rules
2	follow	gerund	the morning not said here	Scheherazade's marriage			vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent marriage=Theme
3	narrate		Scheherazade			to the Sultan	nom narration «communication transitive»: poss=agent to=obl
4	marry		Scheherazade				nom marriage «state transitive»: 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

To convince the Sultan to forgive her father and the vizir for their roles

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 convince	mark
2	convince	convince	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 Sultan	det
4	Sultan	Sultan	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 convince	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 forgive	mark
6	forgive	forgive	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 convince	xcomp
7	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 father	nmod:poss
8	father	father	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 forgive	obj
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 vizir	cc
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 vizir	det
11	vizir	vizir	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 father	conj
12	for	for	ADP	_	14 roles	case
13	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 roles	nmod:poss
14	roles	role	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 convince	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	convince	to-infinitive		the Sultan				for father's roles	vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent sultan=Patient clause=Result
2	forgive	to-infinitive		her father and the vizir					vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent father=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

To keep the Sultan curious so that he would postpone her execution yet again

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 keep	mark
2	keep	keep	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 Sultan	det
4	Sultan	Sultan	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 keep	obj
5	curious	curious	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 keep	xcomp
6	so	so	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	10 postpone	mark
7	that	that	SCONJ	_	6 so	fixed
8	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 postpone	nsubj
9	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	10 postpone	aux
10	postpone	postpone	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 keep	advcl
11	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 execution	nmod:poss
12	execution	execution	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 postpone	obj
13	yet	yet	ADV	_	10 postpone	advmod
14	again	again	ADV	_	10 postpone	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	keep	to-infinitive		the Sultan		curious property	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sultan=Theme
2	postpone	would	he	her execution	yet; again		vn delay-53.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent execution=Eventuality
3	execute		her = she				nom execution «act transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

To defer her execution by continuing her tale

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 defer	mark
2	defer	defer	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 execution	nmod:poss
4	execution	execution	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 defer	obj
5	by	by	SCONJ	_	6 continuing	mark
6	continuing	continue	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 defer	advcl
7	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 tale	nmod:poss
8	tale	tale	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 continuing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	defer	to-infinitive		her execution	vn delay-53.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent execution=Source
2	continue	gerund		her tale	vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent tale=Theme
3	execute		her = she		nom execution «act transitive»: poss=agent
4	tell		her = she		nom tale «communication intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

To win the Sultan's love with her wit

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 win	mark
2	win	win	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 Sultan	det
4	Sultan	Sultan	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 love	nmod:poss
5	's	's	PART	_	4 Sultan	case
6	love	love	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 win	obj
7	with	with	ADP	_	9 wit	case
8	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 wit	nmod:poss
9	wit	wit	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 win	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	win	to-infinitive		the Sultan's love				with her wit	vn succeed-74-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent love=Eventuality
2	love		the Sultan						nom love «feeling 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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