Exam question 2 · Popular Tales from the Norse, The Lad and the Troll, part…

By what means did the lad regain his human shape beneath the sea?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: lad · What happens: mean, regain · To what, where: human shape

This is exam question 2 of lesson 1655 «Popular Tales from the Norse, The Lad and the Troll, part 44: the lad serves the troll as hare, raven and fish, and meets the troll's daughter» 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	By	by	ADP	_	2 what	case
2	what	what	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 regain	obl
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 what	acl:relcl
4	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 regain	aux
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 lad	det
6	lad	lad	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 regain	nsubj
7	regain	regain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
8	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 shape	nmod:poss
9	human	human	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 shape	amod
10	shape	shape	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 regain	obj
11	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	13 sea	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 sea	det
13	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 regain	obl
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 regain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mean	present							vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
2	regain	past · do-support	the lad	lad's human shape				beneath the sea	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shape=Theme

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

By calling for help from the king

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 calling	mark
2	calling	call	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	for	for	ADP	_	4 help	case
4	help	help	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 calling	obl
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 king	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 king	det
7	king	king	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 calling	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	call	gerund						for help; from the king	vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent for help=Asset from king=Source

Option 2

By recalling and speaking the troll's words aloud while floating up to the surface of the sea

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 recalling	mark
2	recalling	recall	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	4 speaking	cc
4	speaking	speak	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 recalling	conj
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 troll	det
6	troll	troll	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 words	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 troll	case
8	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 speaking	obj
9	aloud	aloud	ADV	_	4 speaking	advmod
10	while	while	SCONJ	_	11 floating	mark
11	floating	float	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 recalling	advcl
12	up	up	ADP	_	11 floating	compound:prt
13	to	to	ADP	_	15 surface	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 surface	det
15	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 floating	obl
16	of	of	ADP	_	18 sea	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 sea	det
18	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 surface	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	recall	gerund					vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	speak speech: other	gerund		the troll's words		aloud property	tree rules
3	float up	gerund			the surface of the sea		vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to surface=Destination
4	word		the troll				nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3

By kissing the glass palace floor and reciting every spell the troll had ever taught him

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 kissing	mark
2	kissing	kiss	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	15 taught	advcl
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 floor	det
4	glass	glass	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 palace	compound
5	palace	palace	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 floor	compound
6	floor	floor	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 kissing	obj
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 reciting	cc
8	reciting	recite	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 kissing	conj
9	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	10 spell	det
10	spell	spell	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 reciting	obj
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 troll	det
12	troll	troll	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 reciting	obj
13	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	15 taught	aux
14	ever	ever	ADV	PronType=Ind	15 taught	advmod
15	taught	teach	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
16	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 taught	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	to whom	when	roles by
1	kiss	gerund	the palace floor			vn marry-36.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent floor=Co-Agent
2	recite	gerund	every spell			vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: agent=Agent spell=Beneficiary troll=Theme
3	teach speech: other	past · perfect		him = he	ever	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient

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

By recalling and speaking the troll's words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 recalling	mark
2	recalling	recall	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	4 speaking	cc
4	speaking	speak	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 recalling	conj
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 troll	det
6	troll	troll	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 words	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 troll	case
8	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 speaking	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	recall	gerund			vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	speak speech: other	gerund		the troll's words	tree rules
3	word		the troll		nom word «communication transitive»: poss=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/1655-pg5615-part44/e2/