Exam question 4 · Fairy Tales, The Invisible Prince, part 20: a secret poem…

By what manner did the verses reach the Princess?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: manner, verses · What happens: do, reach · To what, where: Princess

This is exam question 4 of lesson 1696 «Fairy Tales, The Invisible Prince, part 20: a secret poem for Rosalie» 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	ADP	_	2 what	case
2	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	root	root
3	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 did	nsubj
4	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 what	acl:relcl
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 verses	det
6	verses	verse	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 reach	nsubj
7	reach	reach	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 what	acl:relcl
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 Princess	det
9	Princess	princess	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 reach	obj
10	?	?	PUNCT	_	2 what	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	do	past	manner						vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	reach	present	the verses	the Princess					vn body_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent princess=Theme

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 were written by a pen that moved on its own without any visible hand near it

The tree, 17 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	3 written	nsubj:pass
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 written	aux:pass
3	written	write	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 pen	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 pen	det
6	pen	pen	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 written	obl
7	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 moved	nsubj
8	moved	move	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 pen	acl:relcl
9	on	on	ADP	_	11 own	case
10	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 own	nmod:poss
11	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 moved	obl
12	without	without	ADP	_	15 hand	case
13	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	15 hand	det
14	visible	visible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 hand	amod
15	hand	hand	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 moved	obl
16	near	near	ADP	_	17 it	case
17	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 moved	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	write	past · passive		They				by a pen	vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	move	past	a pen			pen's own		without any visible hand; near hand	vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V PP.source PP.trajectory PP.destination»: agent=Theme on own=Source near it=Trajectory

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

They were inscribed by a pen moving without visible agency

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 inscribed	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 inscribed	aux:pass
3	inscribed	inscribe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 pen	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 pen	det
6	pen	pen	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 inscribed	obl
7	moving	move	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 pen	acl
8	without	without	ADP	_	10 agency	case
9	visible	visible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 agency	amod
10	agency	agency	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 moving	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	inscribe	past · passive		They				by a pen	vn image_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.theme PP.destination»: subject=Theme by pen=Destination
2	move	gerund	a pen not said here					without visible agency	vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme

Option 3

Written by a pen with no hand

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Written	write	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
2	by	by	ADP	_	4 pen	case
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 pen	det
4	pen	pen	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Written	obl
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 hand	case
6	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	7 hand	det
7	hand	hand	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Written	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	write	participle						by a pen; with no hand	vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4

By a pen that was secretly guided by an invisible prince standing behind her chair

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	3 pen	case
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 pen	det
3	pen	pen	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 guided	nsubj:pass
5	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 guided	aux:pass
6	secretly	secretly	ADV	_	7 guided	advmod
7	guided	guide	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 pen	acl:relcl
8	by	by	ADP	_	11 prince	case
9	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 prince	det
10	invisible	invisible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 prince	amod
11	prince	prince	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 guided	obl
12	standing	stand	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	11 prince	acl
13	behind	behind	ADP	_	15 chair	case
14	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	15 chair	nmod:poss
15	chair	chair	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 standing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	guide	past · passive	a invisible prince	a pen				secretly property	vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme
2	stand	gerund	a invisible prince not said here			her chair			vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent behind chair=Location

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/1696-pg640-part20/e4/