Exam question 2 · Arabian Nights, The Merchant and the Genie, part 3: the me…

Which of the following best identifies the circumstances in which the first old man addresses the genie?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: first old man · What happens: follow, identify, address · To what, where: circumstances, genie

This is exam question 2 of lesson 163 «Arabian Nights, The Merchant and the Genie, part 3: the merchant goes back to the fountain, and an old man begins his tale» 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	6 identifies	obj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 best	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 best	det
4	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 best	case
5	best	good	ADJ	Degree=Sup	6 identifies	nmod
6	identifies	identify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 circumstances	det
8	circumstances	circumstance	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 identifies	obj
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 which	case
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	15 addresses	obl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 man	det
12	first	first	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	14 man	amod
13	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 man	amod
14	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 addresses	nsubj
15	addresses	address	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 circumstances	acl:relcl
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 genie	det
17	genie	genie	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 addresses	obj
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 identifies	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund					vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	identify	present		the circumstances		of the best	tree rules
3	address	present	the first old man	the genie	the circumstances		vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent genie=Destination

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 kneels before the genie and asks him to calm down and hear his tale

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 kneels	nsubj
2	kneels	kneel	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	before	before	ADP	_	5 genie	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 genie	det
5	genie	genie	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 kneels	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 asks	cc
7	asks	ask	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 kneels	conj
8	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 asks	obj
9	to	to	PART	_	10 calm	mark
10	calm	calm	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 asks	xcomp
11	down	down	ADP	_	10 calm	compound:prt
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 hear	cc
13	hear	hear	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 calm	conj
14	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	15 tale	nmod:poss
15	tale	tale	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 hear	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	roles by
1	kneel	present	He			the genie	vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent before genie=Location
2	ask speech: ask	present	He not said here		him = he		vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic
3	calm down not said to happen	to-infinitive	He not said here				vn subjugate-42.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	hear	infinitive	He not said here	his tale			vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer tale=Stimulus
5	tell		his = he				nom tale «communication intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

He kneels before the genie and petitions him to suspend his wrath and attend to his narrative

The tree, 17 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 kneels	nsubj
2	kneels	kneel	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	before	before	ADP	_	5 genie	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 genie	det
5	genie	genie	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 kneels	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 petitions	cc
7	petitions	petition	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 kneels	conj
8	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 petitions	obj
9	to	to	PART	_	10 suspend	mark
10	suspend	suspend	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 petitions	xcomp
11	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 wrath	nmod:poss
12	wrath	wrath	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 suspend	obj
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 attend	cc
14	attend	attend	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 suspend	conj
15	to	to	ADP	_	17 narrative	case
16	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	17 narrative	nmod:poss
17	narrative	narrative	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 attend	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	kneel	present	He		the genie		vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent before genie=Location
2	petition	present	He not said here	him = he			tree rules
3	suspend	to-infinitive	He not said here	his wrath			vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wrath=Theme
4	attend	infinitive	He not said here			to his narrative	vn caring-75.2-1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent to narrative=Theme

Option 3

He bows low and asks the genie to hear his account before striking

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 bows	nsubj
2	bows	bow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	low	low	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 bows	xcomp
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 asks	cc
5	asks	ask	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 bows	conj
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 genie	det
7	genie	genie	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 asks	obj
8	to	to	PART	_	9 hear	mark
9	hear	hear	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 asks	xcomp
10	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 account	nmod:poss
11	account	account	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 hear	obj
12	before	before	SCONJ	_	13 striking	mark
13	striking	strike	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	9 hear	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	bow	present	He		low property	vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	ask speech: ask	present	He not said here	the genie		vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent genie=Recipient clause=Topic
3	hear not said to happen	to-infinitive	the genie not said here	his account		vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer account=Stimulus
4	strike	gerund	the genie not said here			vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme
5	account		his = he			nom account «communication transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

He kneels before the genie, begs him to suspend his wrath and listen patiently to the whole narrative from start to finish

The tree, 22 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 kneels	nsubj
2	kneels	kneel	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	before	before	ADP	_	5 genie	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 genie	det
5	genie	genie	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 kneels	obl
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 begs	punct
7	begs	beg	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 kneels	conj
8	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 begs	obj
9	to	to	PART	_	10 suspend	mark
10	suspend	suspend	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 begs	xcomp
11	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 wrath	nmod:poss
12	wrath	wrath	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 suspend	obj
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 listen	cc
14	listen	listen	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 suspend	conj
15	patiently	patiently	ADV	_	14 listen	advmod
16	to	to	ADP	_	19 narrative	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 narrative	det
18	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 narrative	amod
19	narrative	narrative	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 listen	obl
20	from	from	ADP	_	21 start	case
21	start	start	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 narrative	nmod
22	to	to	PART	_	23 finish	mark
23	finish	finish	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	14 listen	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	other	roles by
1	kneel	present	He			the genie		vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent before genie=Location
2	beg speech: request	present	He not said here		him = he			vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic
3	suspend not said to happen	to-infinitive	He not said here	his wrath				vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wrath=Theme
4	listen	infinitive	He not said here				to the whole narrative from start; patiently property	vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to narrative=Theme
5	finish	to-infinitive	He not said here					vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=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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