Exam question 2 · Red Fairy Book, The Two Brothers, part 37: a bird, a boar,…

What did the younger brother propose as a means of signalling the state of the brothers?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: younger brother, a · What happens: propose, mean, signall · To what, where: state · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 2 of lesson 1648 «Red Fairy Book, The Two Brothers, part 37: a bird, a boar, and a seven-headed serpent» 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	6 propose	obj
2	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 propose	aux
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 brother	det
4	younger	young	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	5 brother	amod
5	brother	brother	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 propose	nsubj
6	propose	propose	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
7	as	as	SCONJ	_	9 means	mark
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 means	nsubj
9	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 propose	ccomp
10	of	of	SCONJ	_	11 signalling	mark
11	signalling	signall	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	9 means	ccomp
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 state	det
13	state	state	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 signalling	obj
14	of	of	ADP	_	16 brothers	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 brothers	det
16	brothers	brother	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 state	nmod
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 propose	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	propose	past · do-support	the younger brother		tree rules
2	mean	present	a		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	signall	gerund		the state of the brothers	tree rules

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

A red ribbon tied around the tallest tree in the orchard

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 ribbon	det
2	red	red	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 ribbon	amod
3	ribbon	ribbon	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	tied	tie	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 ribbon	acl
5	around	around	ADP	_	8 tree	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 tree	det
7	tallest	tall	ADJ	Degree=Sup	8 tree	amod
8	tree	tree	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 tied	obl
9	in	in	ADP	_	11 orchard	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 orchard	det
11	orchard	orchard	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 tied	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tie	participle		a red ribbon not said here		the tallest tree		in the orchard	vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

A slit made in the fig-tree

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 slit	det
2	slit	slit	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	made	make	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 slit	acl
4	in	in	ADP	_	8 tree	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 tree	det
6	fig	fig	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 tree	compound
7	-	-	PUNCT	_	6 fig	punct
8	tree	tree	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 made	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	make	participle		a slit not said here		the fig tree			vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset

Option 3

A messenger sent on horseback to the castle each morning

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 messenger	det
2	messenger	messenger	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	sent	send	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 messenger	acl
4	on	on	ADP	_	5 horseback	case
5	horseback	horseback	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 sent	obl
6	to	to	ADP	_	8 castle	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 castle	det
8	castle	castle	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 sent	obl
9	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	10 morning	det
10	morning	morning	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 sent	obl:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	send	participle		a messenger not said here		horseback	morning	to the castle	vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent to castle=Destination

Option 4

A flag hung from the tree

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 flag	det
2	flag	flag	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	hung	hang	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 flag	acl
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 tree	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 tree	det
6	tree	tree	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 hung	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hang	participle		a flag not said here		the tree			vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent

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/1648-pg5615-part37/e2/