Exam question 4 · Arabian Nights, The Merchant and the Genius, part 2: Scheh…

What undertaking did the merchant give the genius before the genius consented to the delay?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: merchant · What happens: undertake, give, consent · To what, where: genius

This is exam question 4 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	2 undertaking	obj
2	undertaking	undertake	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 give	csubj
3	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 give	aux
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 merchant	det
5	merchant	merchant	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 give	nsubj
6	give	give	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 genius	det
8	genius	genius	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 give	obj
9	before	before	ADP	_	11 genius	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 genius	det
11	genius	genius	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 give	obl
12	consented	consent	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 genius	acl
13	to	to	ADP	_	15 delay	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 delay	det
15	delay	delay	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 consented	obl
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 give	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	undertake	gerund					vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality
2	give	past · do-support	the merchant	the genius	before the genius		vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent genius=Theme
3	consent	participle		the genius not said here		to the delay	vn acquiesce-95.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to delay=Theme

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 pledged to return to the trees with his family and all his debts paid

The tree, 15 words

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 pledged	nsubj
2	pledged	pledge	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 return	mark
4	return	return	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 pledged	xcomp
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 trees	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 trees	det
7	trees	tree	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 return	obl
8	with	with	ADP	_	10 family	case
9	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 family	nmod:poss
10	family	family	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 return	obl
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 paid	cc
12	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	14 debts	det:predet
13	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 debts	nmod:poss
14	debts	debt	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 paid	nsubj
15	paid	pay	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 pledged	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	pledge	past	He		vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	return	to-infinitive	He not said here	to the trees result; with his family	vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Patient to tree=Result
3	pay	past	his debts		vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 2

He swore to return to the fountain

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 swore	nsubj
2	swore	swear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 return	mark
4	return	return	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 swore	xcomp
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 fountain	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 fountain	det
7	fountain	fountain	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 return	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	swear	past	He						vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	return	to-infinitive	He not said here					to the fountain result	vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Patient to fountain=Result

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

He pledged to return on the appointed day

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 pledged	nsubj
2	pledged	pledge	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 return	mark
4	return	return	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 pledged	xcomp
5	on	on	ADP	_	8 day	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 day	det
7	appointed	appoint	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 day	amod
8	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 return	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	when	roles by
1	pledge	past	He		vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	return	to-infinitive	He not said here	day	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	appoint	participle			vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 4

He promised to come back on time

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 promised	nsubj
2	promised	promise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 come	mark
4	come	come	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 promised	xcomp
5	back	back	ADV	_	4 come	advmod
6	on	on	ADP	_	7 time	case
7	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 come	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	promise speech: promise	past	He						vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	come back not said to happen	to-infinitive	He not said here				time		vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/162-pg128-part2/e4/