Exam question 3 · Wonder Tales from Many Lands, The Story of Ciccu, part 61:…

By what means did the princess obtain the purse from Ciccu?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: mean, do, obtain · To what, where: princess, purse, Ciccu · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 3 of lesson 1672 «Wonder Tales from Many Lands, The Story of Ciccu, part 61: the princess begs Ciccu's purse for a copy» 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	SCONJ	_	3 means	mark
2	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	3 means	nsubj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 obtain	advcl
4	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 means	ccomp
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 princess	det
6	princess	princess	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 did	obj
7	obtain	obtain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 purse	det
9	purse	purse	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 obtain	obj
10	from	from	ADP	_	11 Ciccu	case
11	Ciccu	Ciccu	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 obtain	obl
12	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 obtain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	roles by
1	mean	present			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	do	past	the princess		vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent princess=Eventuality
3	obtain	present	the purse	Ciccu	vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent purse=Theme from ciccu=Source

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

She persuaded him by flattery and cunning questions while he sat at dinner

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 persuaded	nsubj
2	persuaded	persuade	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 persuaded	obj
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 flattery	case
5	flattery	flattery	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 persuaded	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 questions	cc
7	cunning	cunning	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 questions	compound
8	questions	question	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 flattery	conj
9	while	while	SCONJ	_	11 sat	mark
10	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 sat	nsubj
11	sat	sit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 persuaded	advcl
12	at	at	ADP	_	13 dinner	case
13	dinner	dinner	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 sat	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	persuade	past	She	him = he				by flattery and cunning questions	vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient
2	sit	past	he			dinner			vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at dinner=Location

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

She persuaded him by flattery and cunning questions

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 persuaded	nsubj
2	persuaded	persuade	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 persuaded	obj
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 flattery	case
5	flattery	flattery	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 persuaded	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 questions	cc
7	cunning	cunning	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 questions	compound
8	questions	question	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 flattery	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	persuade	past	She	him = he				by flattery and cunning questions	vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient

Option 3

She persuaded him by flattery and cunning questions, and then by threats to his brothers

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 persuaded	nsubj
2	persuaded	persuade	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 persuaded	obj
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 flattery	case
5	flattery	flattery	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 persuaded	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 questions	cc
7	cunning	cunning	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 questions	compound
8	questions	question	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 flattery	conj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 threats	punct
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 threats	cc
11	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	13 threats	advmod
12	by	by	ADP	_	13 threats	case
13	threats	threat	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 persuaded	obl
14	to	to	ADP	_	16 brothers	case
15	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	16 brothers	nmod:poss
16	brothers	brother	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 threats	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	persuade	past	She	him = he				by flattery and cunning questions; by threats to his brothers	vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

She bribed him with gold and jewels

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 bribed	nsubj
2	bribed	bribe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 bribed	obj
4	with	with	ADP	_	5 gold	case
5	gold	gold	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 bribed	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 jewels	cc
7	jewels	jewel	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 gold	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bribe	past	She	him = he				with gold and jewels	vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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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