Exam question 3 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Fir-Tree: the old tree is burn…

With reference to the passage, by what means was the fir-tree finally reduced to fuel?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: passage · What happens: mean, be, reduce · To what, where: fir tree

This is exam question 3 of lesson 1630 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Fir-Tree: the old tree is burned, and a new tale begins» 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	With	with	ADP	_	2 reference	case
2	reference	reference	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 tree	obl
3	to	to	ADP	_	5 passage	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 passage	det
5	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reference	nmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 means	punct
7	by	by	SCONJ	_	9 means	mark
8	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	9 means	nsubj
9	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 passage	acl:relcl
10	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	14 tree	cop
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 tree	det
12	fir	fir	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 tree	compound
13	-	-	PUNCT	_	12 fir	punct
14	tree	tree	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
15	finally	finally	ADV	_	16 reduced	advmod
16	reduced	reduce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 tree	acl
17	to	to	PART	_	18 fuel	mark
18	fuel	fuel	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 reduced	advcl
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	14 tree	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	mean	present	the passage			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
2	is a	past		the fir tree	with reference to the passage	tree rules
3	reduce	participle		the fir tree not said here	finally property	vn limit-76 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer

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 was split by the farmhand's axe

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	3 split	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 split	aux:pass
3	split	split	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	8 axe	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 farmhand	det
6	farmhand	farmhand	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 axe	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 farmhand	case
8	axe	axe	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 split	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	split	past · passive		It				by the farmhand's axe	vn break-45.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient

Option 2

It was cut into small pieces by a servant and then thrown into the brew-house copper

The tree, 17 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	3 cut	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 cut	aux:pass
3	cut	cut	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	into	into	ADP	_	6 pieces	case
5	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 pieces	amod
6	pieces	piece	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 cut	obl
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 servant	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 servant	det
9	servant	servant	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 cut	obl
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 thrown	cc
11	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	12 thrown	advmod
12	thrown	throw	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 cut	conj
13	into	into	ADP	_	18 copper	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 copper	det
15	brew	brew	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 house	compound
16	-	-	PUNCT	_	15 brew	punct
17	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 copper	compound
18	copper	copper	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 thrown	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cut	past · passive	a servant	It		small pieces			vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP.material PP.product»: agent=Agent subject=Material into piece=Product
2	throw	participle	a servant not said here				then	into the house copper result	vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Causer into copper=Result

Option 3

It was chopped into many little pieces by the servant girl using a large axe in the yard

The tree, 18 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	3 chopped	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 chopped	aux:pass
3	chopped	chop	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	into	into	ADP	_	7 pieces	case
5	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 pieces	amod
6	little	little	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 pieces	amod
7	pieces	piece	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 chopped	obl
8	by	by	ADP	_	11 girl	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 girl	det
10	servant	servant	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 girl	compound
11	girl	girl	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 chopped	obl
12	using	use	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	11 girl	acl
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 axe	det
14	large	large	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 axe	amod
15	axe	axe	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 using	obj
16	in	in	ADP	_	18 yard	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 yard	det
18	yard	yard	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 using	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	chop	past · passive	the servant girl	It				into many little pieces result	vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent subject=Patient into piece=Result
2	use	gerund	the servant girl not said here	a large axe				in the yard	vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent axe=Patient

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

It was cut into pieces by a servant

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	3 cut	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 cut	aux:pass
3	cut	cut	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	into	into	ADP	_	5 pieces	case
5	pieces	piece	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 cut	obl
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 servant	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 servant	det
8	servant	servant	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 cut	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cut	past · passive	a servant	It		pieces			vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP.material PP.product»: agent=Agent subject=Material into piece=Product

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/1630-pg5615-part19/e3/