Exam question 2 · Japanese Tales, The Sparrow with the Slit Tongue, part 60:…

Which motive is principally ascribed to the wife in the account of the second chest?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · What happens: ascribe, account · To what, where: motive, account, second chest

This is exam question 2 of lesson 1671 «Japanese Tales, The Sparrow with the Slit Tongue, part 60: the old man's gift and the greedy wife's trip» 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	DET	PronType=Int	2 motive	det
2	motive	motive	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 ascribed	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 ascribed	aux:pass
4	principally	principally	ADV	_	5 ascribed	advmod
5	ascribed	ascribe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	to	to	ADP	_	8 wife	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 wife	det
8	wife	wife	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 ascribed	obl
9	in	in	ADP	_	11 account	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 account	det
11	account	account	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 ascribed	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	15 chest	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 chest	det
14	second	second	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	15 chest	amod
15	chest	chest	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 account	nmod
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 ascribed	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascribe	present · passive		which motive		the account of the second chest		to the wife; principally property	tree rules
2	account			the second chest					nom account «communication transitive»: of=patient

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 · ✓ the right answer

Covetousness, which lends her strength against the weight of her burden

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Covetousness	covetousness	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 lends	nsubj
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 lends	punct
3	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 lends	nsubj
4	lends	lend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 strength	nmod:poss
6	strength	strength	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 lends	obj
7	against	against	ADP	_	9 weight	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 weight	det
9	weight	weight	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 lends	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 burden	case
11	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 burden	nmod:poss
12	burden	burden	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 weight	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lend	present	Covetousness	Covetousness's strength				against the weight of Covetousness's burden	vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent strength=Theme
2	burden		Covetousness						nom burden «cognition transitive»: poss=agent

Option 2

Covetousness, which lends her strength against the weight of her burden and drives her to hurry on through every storm

The tree, 20 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Covetousness	covetousness	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 lends	nsubj
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 lends	punct
3	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 lends	nsubj
4	lends	lend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 strength	nmod:poss
6	strength	strength	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 lends	obj
7	against	against	ADP	_	9 weight	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 weight	det
9	weight	weight	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 lends	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 burden	case
11	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 burden	nmod:poss
12	burden	burden	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 weight	nmod
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 drives	cc
14	drives	drive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 lends	conj
15	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 drives	obj
16	to	to	PART	_	17 hurry	mark
17	hurry	hurry	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	14 drives	xcomp
18	on	on	ADP	_	17 hurry	compound:prt
19	through	through	ADP	_	21 storm	case
20	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	21 storm	det
21	storm	storm	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 hurry	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	lend	present	Covetousness	Covetousness's strength		against the weight of Covetousness's burden	vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent strength=Theme
2	drive	present	Covetousness not said here	Covetousness			vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent she=Patient clause=Result
3	hurry on	to-infinitive	Covetousness not said here		every storm		vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through storm=Trajectory
4	burden		Covetousness				nom burden «cognition transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3

Pride in her husband's wealth and the house he built

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Pride	pride	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	in	in	ADP	_	6 wealth	case
3	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 husband	nmod:poss
4	husband	husband	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 wealth	nmod:poss
5	's	's	PART	_	4 husband	case
6	wealth	wealth	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Pride	nmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 house	cc
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 house	det
9	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Pride	conj
10	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 built	nsubj
11	built	build	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	1 Pride	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	build	past	husband	Pride in her husband's wealth and the house not said here					vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pride=Product

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

Envy of her neighbours' fine silks and her sister's new house

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Envy	envy	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	of	of	ADP	_	7 silks	case
3	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 neighbours	nmod:poss
4	neighbours	neighbour	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 silks	nmod:poss
5	'	's	PART	_	4 neighbours	case
6	fine	fine	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 silks	amod
7	silks	silk	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Envy	nmod
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 house	cc
9	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 sister	nmod:poss
10	sister	sister	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 house	nmod:poss
11	's	's	PART	_	10 sister	case
12	new	new	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 house	amod
13	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 silks	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	envy			her neighbours's fine silks and her sister's new house					nom envy «feeling transitive»: of=patient

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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