Exam question 2 · Fairy Tales, The Fir-Tree, part 18: the tree is dressed fo…

In what manner did the tree respond to the advice of the sunbeams and the air, in regard to its youth and its freedom?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: do · To what, where: tree respond, manner

This is exam question 2 of lesson 1629 «Fairy Tales, The Fir-Tree, part 18: the tree is dressed for Christmas, hears a story, and is then shut away in a dark loft» 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	In	in	ADP	_	3 manner	case
2	what	what	DET	PronType=Int	3 manner	det
3	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 did	obl
4	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 respond	det
6	tree	tree	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 respond	compound
7	respond	respond	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 did	obj
8	to	to	ADP	_	10 advice	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 advice	det
10	advice	advice	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 did	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 sunbeams	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 sunbeams	det
13	sunbeams	sunbeam	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 advice	nmod
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 air	cc
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 air	det
16	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 sunbeams	conj
17	,	,	PUNCT	_	19 regard	punct
18	in	in	ADP	_	19 regard	case
19	regard	regard	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 did	conj
20	to	to	ADP	_	22 youth	case
21	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	22 youth	nmod:poss
22	youth	youth	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 regard	nmod
23	and	and	CCONJ	_	25 freedom	cc
24	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	25 freedom	nmod:poss
25	freedom	freedom	NOUN	Number=Sing	22 youth	conj
26	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 did	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	do	past		the tree respond		what manner		to the advice of the sunbeams and the air	vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent respond=Eventuality

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

It agreed with them and grew taller still.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 agreed	nsubj
2	agreed	agree	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	with	with	ADP	_	4 them	case
4	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 agreed	obl
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 grew	cc
6	grew	grow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 agreed	conj
7	taller	tall	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	6 grew	xcomp
8	still	still	ADV	_	6 grew	advmod
9	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 agreed	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	agree speech: agree	past	It					with them = they	vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V PP.co-agent how S»: agent=Agent with they=Co-Agent
2	grow	past					still	tall property	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

It spoke back to them rudely, saying it wanted to be cut down and taken to the warm room at once.

The tree, 21 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 spoke	nsubj
2	spoke	speak	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	back	back	ADV	_	2 spoke	advmod
4	to	to	ADP	_	5 them	case
5	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 spoke	obl
6	rudely	rudely	ADV	_	2 spoke	advmod
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 saying	punct
8	saying	say	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 spoke	advcl
9	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 wanted	nsubj
10	wanted	want	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 saying	ccomp
11	to	to	PART	_	13 cut	mark
12	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	13 cut	aux:pass
13	cut	cut	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 wanted	xcomp
14	down	down	ADP	_	13 cut	compound:prt
15	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 taken	cc
16	taken	take	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 cut	conj
17	to	to	ADP	_	20 room	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 room	det
19	warm	warm	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 room	amod
20	room	room	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 taken	obl
21	at	at	ADP	_	22 once	case
22	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	16 taken	obl
23	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 spoke	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	to whom	other	roles by
1	speak back speech: other	past	It	them = they	rudely property	vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to they=Co-Agent
2	say speech: assert	gerund				vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	want	past	it			vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme
4	cut down not said to happen	to-infinitive · passive				vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»
5	take	participle			to the warm room result	vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Patient to room=Result

Option 3

It listened carefully to them and decided to stop growing, so that it could stay young and free forever.

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 listened	nsubj
2	listened	listen	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	carefully	carefully	ADV	_	2 listened	advmod
4	to	to	ADP	_	5 them	case
5	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 listened	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 decided	cc
7	decided	decide	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 listened	conj
8	to	to	PART	_	9 stop	mark
9	stop	stop	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 decided	xcomp
10	growing	grow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	9 stop	xcomp
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 stay	punct
12	so	so	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	16 stay	mark
13	that	that	SCONJ	_	12 so	fixed
14	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	16 stay	nsubj
15	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	16 stay	aux
16	stay	stay	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 stop	conj
17	young	young	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 stay	xcomp
18	and	and	CCONJ	_	19 free	cc
19	free	free	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 young	conj
20	forever	forever	ADV	_	16 stay	advmod
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 listened	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	to whom	other	roles by
1	listen	past	It	them = they	carefully property	vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to they=Theme
2	decide	past				vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	stop not said to happen	to-infinitive				vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality
4	grow	gerund				vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
5	stay	could	it		forever, young property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It took no notice of them and continued growing.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 took	nsubj
2	took	take	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	4 notice	det
4	notice	notice	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 took	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 them	case
6	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 notice	nmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 continued	cc
8	continued	continue	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 took	conj
9	growing	grow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 continued	xcomp
10	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 took	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	take	past	It	no notice of them	vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent notice=Theme
2	continue	past			vn continue-55.3 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
3	grow	gerund			vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
4	notice			them = they	nom notice «communication transitive»: of=patient

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/1629-pg5615-part18/e2/