Exam question 4 · Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Six Swans, part 1: a lost king's…

Explain the function of the girl's collection of feathers within the narrative sequence of this part.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: explain · To what, where: function

This is exam question 4 of lesson 1678 «Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Six Swans, part 1: a lost king's bargain with a witch, and six brothers turned into swans» 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	Explain	explain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 function	det
3	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Explain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	8 collection	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 girl	det
6	girl	girl	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 collection	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 girl	case
8	collection	collection	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 function	nmod
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 feathers	case
10	feathers	feather	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 collection	nmod
11	within	within	ADP	_	14 sequence	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 sequence	det
13	narrative	narrative	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 sequence	amod
14	sequence	sequence	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Explain	obl
15	of	of	ADP	_	17 part	case
16	this	this	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	17 part	det
17	part	part	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 sequence	nmod
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Explain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	explain speech: assert	imperative	you not said here	the function of the girl's collection of feathers				within the narrative sequence of this part	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent function=Topic

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

They are proof her brothers became swans

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 proof	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 proof	cop
3	proof	proof	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 brothers	amod
4	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 brothers	nmod:poss
5	brothers	brother	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 became	nsubj
6	became	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	swans	swan	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 became	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	They					proof property	tree rules
2	become	past	her proof brothers	swans					vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

They serve as material evidence that her brothers have been transformed into swans

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 serve	nsubj
2	serve	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	as	as	ADP	_	5 evidence	case
4	material	material	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 evidence	compound
5	evidence	evidence	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 serve	obl
6	that	that	SCONJ	_	11 transformed	mark
7	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 brothers	nmod:poss
8	brothers	brother	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 transformed	nsubj:pass
9	have	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 transformed	aux
10	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	11 transformed	aux:pass
11	transformed	transform	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 evidence	acl
12	into	into	ADP	_	13 swans	case
13	swans	swan	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 transformed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	serve	present	They					as material evidence	vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent as evidence=Attribute
2	transform	present · perfect · passive	material evidence not said here	her brothers				into swans result	vn turn-26.6.1 «NP V NP.patient PP.result»: subject=Patient into swan=Result

Option 3

They provide evidence that the stepmother has bewitched her brothers into birds

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 provide	nsubj
2	provide	provide	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	evidence	evidence	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 provide	obj
4	that	that	SCONJ	_	8 bewitched	mark
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 stepmother	det
6	stepmother	stepmother	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 bewitched	nsubj:pass
7	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 bewitched	aux
8	bewitched	bewitch	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 provide	advcl
9	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 brothers	nmod:poss
10	brothers	brother	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 bewitched	obj
11	into	into	ADP	_	12 birds	case
12	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 bewitched	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	provide	present	They	evidence					vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition evidence=Theme
2	bewitch	present · perfect · passive		the stepmother				into birds	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Experiencer brother=Result

Option 4

They act as physical proof that her brothers are now swans in the yard

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 act	nsubj
2	act	act	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	as	as	ADP	_	5 proof	case
4	physical	physical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 proof	amod
5	proof	proof	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 act	obl
6	that	that	SCONJ	_	11 swans	mark
7	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 brothers	nmod:poss
8	brothers	brother	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 swans	nsubj
9	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 swans	cop
10	now	now	ADV	PronType=Dem	11 swans	advmod
11	swans	swan	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 proof	nmod
12	in	in	ADP	_	14 yard	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 yard	det
14	yard	yard	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 swans	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	act	present	They					as physical proof	vn masquerade-29.6-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent as proof=Attribute
2	is a	present	her brothers	swans			now	in the yard	tree rules

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/1678-pg640-part2/e4/