Exam question 4 · Bassoto Tales, The Nyamatsane, part 1: a man kills a grand…

Which of the following is the final action of the man in the narrative extract?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, be

This is exam question 4 of lesson 1668 «Bassoto Tales, The Nyamatsane, part 1: a man kills a grandmother nyamatsane, tricks her family, and flings a stone» 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	8 action	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	8 action	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 action	det
4	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 action	case
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 action	cop
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 action	det
7	final	final	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 action	amod
8	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 man	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 man	det
11	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 action	nmod
12	in	in	ADP	_	15 extract	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 extract	det
14	narrative	narrative	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 extract	compound
15	extract	extract	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 man	nmod
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 action	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	is	present						of the final action; of the man in the narrative extract	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

he throws down a polished stone and runs off

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 throws	nsubj
2	throws	throw	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	down	down	ADP	_	2 throws	compound:prt
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 stone	det
5	polished	polish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 stone	amod
6	stone	stone	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 throws	obj
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 runs	cc
8	runs	run	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 throws	conj
9	off	off	ADP	_	8 runs	compound:prt

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	throw down	present	he	a polished stone	vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stone=Theme
2	polish	participle			vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent
3	run off	present	he not said here		vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

he drops a shiny pebble

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 drops	nsubj
2	drops	drop	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 pebble	det
4	shiny	shiny	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 pebble	amod
5	pebble	pebble	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 drops	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	drop	present	he	a shiny pebble					vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pebble=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

he throws down a polished stone

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 throws	nsubj
2	throws	throw	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	down	down	ADP	_	2 throws	compound:prt
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 stone	det
5	polished	polish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 stone	amod
6	stone	stone	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 throws	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	throw down	present	he	a polished stone					vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stone=Theme
2	polish	participle							vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent

Option 4

he hides the polished bag

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 hides	nsubj
2	hides	hide	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 bag	det
4	polished	polish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 bag	amod
5	bag	bag	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 hides	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hide	present	he	the polished bag					vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bag=Patient
2	polish	participle							vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: 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/1668-pg5615-part57/e4/