Exam question 4 · Danish Fairy and Folk Tales, Christian the Smith, part 11:…

Which of the following most accurately explains why the figure failed to seize Christian while he stood in the pulpit?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: figure · What happens: follow, explain, fail, not seize, stand · To what, where: Christian, pulpit · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 4 of lesson 1622 «Danish Fairy and Folk Tales, Christian the Smith, part 11: Christian guards the church, meets the dead princess, and bargains for a second night» 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	7 explains	nsubj
2	of	of	SCONJ	_	7 explains	mark
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 explains	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 explains	nsubj
5	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	6 accurately	advmod
6	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	7 explains	advmod
7	explains	explain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	11 failed	advmod
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 figure	det
10	figure	figure	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 failed	nsubj
11	failed	fail	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 explains	ccomp
12	to	to	PART	_	13 seize	mark
13	seize	seize	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	11 failed	xcomp
14	Christian	Christian	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 seize	obj
15	while	while	SCONJ	_	17 stood	mark
16	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	17 stood	nsubj
17	stood	stand	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	13 seize	advcl
18	in	in	ADP	_	20 pulpit	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 pulpit	det
20	pulpit	pulpit	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 stood	obl
21	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 explains	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund					vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	explain speech: assert	present				accurately property	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	fail	past	the figure				vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
4	not seize	to-infinitive	the figure not said here	Christian			vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent christian=Theme
5	stand	past	figure		the pulpit		vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in pulpit=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 · ← Mova's choice

The little man had bound the figure with a holy chain so that its movements were restricted to the lower part of the church, and the staircase was far beyond its reach

The tree, 32 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 man	det
2	little	little	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 man	amod
3	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 bound	nsubj
4	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 bound	aux
5	bound	bind	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 figure	det
7	figure	figure	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 bound	obj
8	with	with	ADP	_	11 chain	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 chain	det
10	holy	holy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 chain	amod
11	chain	chain	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 bound	obl
12	so	so	SCONJ	_	17 restricted	mark
13	that	that	SCONJ	_	17 restricted	mark
14	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	15 movements	nmod:poss
15	movements	movement	NOUN	Number=Plur	17 restricted	nsubj:pass
16	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	17 restricted	aux:pass
17	restricted	restrict	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 bound	advcl
18	to	to	ADP	_	21 part	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 part	det
20	lower	low	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	21 part	amod
21	part	part	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 restricted	obl
22	of	of	ADP	_	24 church	case
23	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	24 church	det
24	church	church	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 part	nmod
25	,	,	PUNCT	_	30 far	punct
26	and	and	CCONJ	_	30 far	cc
27	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	28 staircase	det
28	staircase	staircase	NOUN	Number=Sing	30 far	nsubj
29	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	30 far	cop
30	far	far	ADV	Degree=Pos	5 bound	advmod
31	beyond	beyond	ADP	_	33 reach	case
32	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	33 reach	nmod:poss
33	reach	reach	NOUN	Number=Sing	30 far	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	bind	past · perfect	the little man	the figure	with a holy chain	vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent figure=Patient with chain=Co-Patient
2	restrict	past · passive		chain's movements	to the lower part of the church goal	vn limit-76 «NP V NP S_ING»: subject=Patient to part=Goal
3	is	past	the staircase		beyond staircase's reach; far property	tree rules
4	move		chain			nom movement «act transitive»: poss=agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The figure was unable to ascend the entire staircase despite its exertions

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 figure	det
2	figure	figure	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 unable	nsubj
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 unable	cop
4	unable	unable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 ascend	mark
6	ascend	ascend	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 unable	xcomp
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 staircase	det
8	entire	entire	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 staircase	amod
9	staircase	staircase	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 ascend	obj
10	despite	despite	ADP	_	12 exertions	case
11	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 exertions	nmod:poss
12	exertions	exertion	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 ascend	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	past	the figure		unable property	tree rules
2	ascend	to-infinitive	the figure not said here	the entire staircase	despite figure's exertions	vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme staircase=Trajectory
3	exert		figure			nom exertion «act transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3

The figure could not climb the whole way up despite trying hard

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 figure	det
2	figure	figure	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 climb	nsubj
3	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 climb	aux
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 climb	advmod
5	climb	climb	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 way	det
7	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 way	amod
8	way	way	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 climb	obj
9	up	up	ADV	_	5 climb	advmod
10	despite	despite	ADP	_	11 trying	mark
11	trying	try	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 climb	advcl
12	hard	hard	ADV	Degree=Pos	11 trying	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not climb	could	the figure	the whole way					vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial_Location way=Theme
2	try	gerund	the figure not said here					hard property	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer

Option 4

Christian's sword kept the figure back from the final steps

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Christian	Christian	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 sword	nmod:poss
2	's	's	PART	_	1 Christian	case
3	sword	sword	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 kept	nsubj
4	kept	keep	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 figure	det
6	figure	figure	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 kept	obj
7	back	back	ADV	_	4 kept	advmod
8	from	from	ADP	_	11 steps	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 steps	det
10	final	final	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 steps	amod
11	steps	step	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 kept	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	keep back	past	Christian's sword	the figure				from the final steps	vn forbid-64.4 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Causer figure=Beneficiary from step=Eventuality

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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