Exam question 2 · Fairy Book, The Six Swans: the silent sister saves her bro…

In what manner did the hunters attempt to persuade the silent maiden to descend from the tree?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: hunters · What happens: do, attempt, persuade, descend · To what, where: manner, tree

This is exam question 2 of lesson 1679 «Fairy Book, The Six Swans: the silent sister saves her brothers but is condemned to burn» 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	In	in	ADP	_	3 manner	case
2	what	what	DET	PronType=Int	3 manner	det
3	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 did	obl
4	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 hunters	det
6	hunters	hunter	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 attempt	nsubj
7	attempt	attempt	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 did	ccomp
8	to	to	PART	_	9 persuade	mark
9	persuade	persuade	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 attempt	xcomp
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 maiden	det
11	silent	silent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 maiden	amod
12	maiden	maiden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 persuade	xcomp
13	to	to	PART	_	14 descend	mark
14	descend	descend	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 maiden	xcomp
15	from	from	ADP	_	17 tree	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 tree	det
17	tree	tree	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 descend	obl
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 did	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	other	roles by
1	do	past		what manner		tree rules
2	attempt	present	the hunters			vn try-61.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
3	persuade not said to happen	to-infinitive	the hunters not said here		maiden property	vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	descend	to-infinitive	the hunters not said here	the tree		vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from tree=Location

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

They gave their assurance that they would do her no harm.

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 gave	nsubj
2	gave	give	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 assurance	nmod:poss
4	assurance	assurance	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 gave	obj
5	that	that	SCONJ	_	8 do	mark
6	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 do	nsubj
7	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	8 do	aux
8	do	do	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 gave	advcl
9	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 harm	nmod:poss
10	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	11 harm	det
11	harm	harm	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 do	obj
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 gave	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	give	past	They	their assurance	vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent assurance=Theme
2	do	would	they	her harm	vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent harm=Eventuality
3	assure		their = they		nom assurance «cognition intransitive»: poss=agent
4	harm		her = she		nom harm «state transitive»: poss=agent

Option 2

They swore that no harm would come to her from them.

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 swore	nsubj
2	swore	swear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 come	mark
4	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	5 harm	det
5	harm	harm	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 come	nsubj
6	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	7 come	aux
7	come	come	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 swore	ccomp
8	to	to	ADP	_	9 her	case
9	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 come	obl
10	from	from	ADP	_	11 them	case
11	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 come	obl
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 swore	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	swear	past	They						vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	come	would	no harm		her = she			from them = they	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location PP.destination»: agent=Theme to she=Initial_Location from they=Destination

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

They shouted at her from below, promising that no one would hurt her if she came down at once.

The tree, 19 words

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 shouted	nsubj
2	shouted	shout	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	at	at	ADP	_	4 her	case
4	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 shouted	obl
5	from	from	ADP	_	6 below	case
6	below	below	ADV	_	2 shouted	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 promising	punct
8	promising	promise	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 shouted	advcl
9	that	that	SCONJ	_	13 hurt	mark
10	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	11 one	det
11	one	one	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 hurt	nsubj
12	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	13 hurt	aux
13	hurt	hurt	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 promising	ccomp
14	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 hurt	obj
15	if	if	SCONJ	_	17 came	mark
16	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	17 came	nsubj
17	came	come	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	13 hurt	advcl
18	down	down	ADV	_	17 came	advmod
19	at	at	ADP	_	20 once	case
20	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	17 came	obl
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 shouted	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	shout speech: express	past	They		at her = she	vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	promise speech: promise	gerund	They not said here			vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	hurt	would	no one	her = she		vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer she=Patient
4	come down a condition, not said to happen	past	she		down property	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at once=Location

Option 4

They gave their solemn word that they would do her no harm and would take her to safety.

The tree, 18 words

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 gave	nsubj
2	gave	give	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 word	nmod:poss
4	solemn	solemn	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 word	amod
5	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 gave	obj
6	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 do	obj
7	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 do	nsubj
8	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	9 do	aux
9	do	do	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 word	acl:relcl
10	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 harm	nmod:poss
11	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	12 harm	det
12	harm	harm	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 do	obj
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 take	cc
14	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	15 take	aux
15	take	take	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 gave	conj
16	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 take	obj
17	to	to	ADP	_	18 safety	case
18	safety	safety	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 take	obl
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 gave	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	give	past	They	their solemn word		vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Theme
2	do	would	they	their solemn word		tree rules
3	take	would	They not said here	her = she	safety	vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent she=Theme to safety=Destination
4	word		their = they			nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent
5	harm		her = she			nom harm «state 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.

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