Exam question 4 · Japanese Tales, The Sparrow with the Slit Tongue, part 60:…

How does the narrator characterise the old husband's conduct in the course of the foregoing passage?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: narrator, old husband · What happens: characterise, conduct · To what, where: conduct, course

This is exam question 4 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	How	how	ADV	PronType=Int	5 characterise	advmod
2	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 characterise	aux
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 narrator	det
4	narrator	narrator	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 characterise	nsubj
5	characterise	characterise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 husband	det
7	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 husband	amod
8	husband	husband	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 conduct	nmod:poss
9	's	's	PART	_	8 husband	case
10	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 characterise	obj
11	in	in	ADP	_	13 course	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 course	det
13	course	course	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 characterise	obl
14	of	of	ADP	_	17 passage	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 passage	det
16	foregoing	foregoing	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 passage	compound
17	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 course	nmod
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 characterise	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	characterise	present · do-support	the narrator	the old husband's conduct		the course of the foregoing passage			tree rules
2	conduct		the old husband						nom conduct «act transitive»: poss=agent

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

As good-natured, honest, and unusually patient in the face of his wife's violent temper and constant bitter complaints

The tree, 20 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	As	as	SCONJ	_	4 natured	mark
2	good	good	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 natured	amod
3	-	-	PUNCT	_	2 good	punct
4	natured	natured	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 honest	punct
6	honest	honest	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 natured	conj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 patient	punct
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 patient	cc
9	unusually	unusually	ADV	_	10 patient	advmod
10	patient	patient	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 natured	conj
11	in	in	ADP	_	13 face	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 face	det
13	face	face	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 patient	obl
14	of	of	ADP	_	19 temper	case
15	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	16 wife	nmod:poss
16	wife	wife	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 temper	nmod:poss
17	's	's	PART	_	16 wife	case
18	violent	violent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 temper	amod
19	temper	temper	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 face	nmod
20	and	and	CCONJ	_	23 complaints	cc
21	constant	constant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	23 complaints	amod
22	bitter	bitter	ADJ	Degree=Pos	23 complaints	amod
23	complaints	complaint	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 face	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	temper		his wife						nom temper «feeling transitive»: poss=agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

As good-natured and honest, and patient in the face of his wife's temper

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	As	as	SCONJ	_	4 natured	mark
2	good	good	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 natured	amod
3	-	-	PUNCT	_	2 good	punct
4	natured	natured	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 honest	cc
6	honest	honest	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 natured	conj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 patient	punct
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 patient	cc
9	patient	patient	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 natured	conj
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 face	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 face	det
12	face	face	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 patient	obl
13	of	of	ADP	_	17 temper	case
14	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	15 wife	nmod:poss
15	wife	wife	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 temper	nmod:poss
16	's	's	PART	_	15 wife	case
17	temper	temper	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 face	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	temper		his wife						nom temper «feeling transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

As wise and humble, though often mocked by his own neighbours

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	As	as	ADP	_	2 wise	case
2	wise	wise	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 mocked	advcl
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	4 humble	cc
4	humble	humble	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 wise	conj
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 mocked	punct
6	though	though	ADV	_	8 mocked	advmod
7	often	often	ADV	_	8 mocked	advmod
8	mocked	mock	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
9	by	by	ADP	_	12 neighbours	case
10	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 neighbours	nmod:poss
11	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 neighbours	amod
12	neighbours	neighbour	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 mocked	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mock	participle						by his own neighbours; often, though property	vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 4

As a gentle and devout man whose kindness, honesty, and quiet patience were tested again and again by his wife's temper

The tree, 22 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	As	as	ADP	_	6 man	case
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 man	det
3	gentle	gentle	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 man	amod
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 devout	cc
5	devout	devout	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 gentle	conj
6	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 kindness	nmod:poss
7	whose	whose	PRON	Poss=Yes PronType=Rel	8 kindness	nmod:poss
8	kindness	kindness	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 honesty	punct
10	honesty	honesty	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 kindness	conj
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 tested	punct
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 tested	cc
13	quiet	quiet	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 patience	amod
14	patience	patience	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 tested	nsubj:pass
15	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	16 tested	aux:pass
16	tested	test	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 kindness	conj
17	again	again	ADV	_	16 tested	advmod
18	and	and	CCONJ	_	19 again	cc
19	again	again	ADV	_	17 again	conj
20	by	by	ADP	_	24 temper	case
21	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	22 wife	nmod:poss
22	wife	wife	NOUN	Number=Sing	24 temper	nmod:poss
23	's	's	PART	_	22 wife	case
24	temper	temper	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 tested	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	test	past · passive	man's wife's temper	quiet patience			again		vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme
2	temper		man's wife						nom temper «feeling 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/1671-pg5615-part60/e4/