Exam question 1 · pg640 Tales, The Youngest Brother and the Witch: he kills…

Which of the following describes the action by which the youngest brother secured the release of the rescued children from the serpent?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: youngest brother · What happens: follow, describe, secure, rescue · To what, where: action, release

This is exam question 1 of lesson 1708 «pg640 Tales, The Youngest Brother and the Witch: he kills the witch, saves the children and wins his bride» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 describes	nsubj
2	of	of	SCONJ	_	5 describes	mark
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 describes	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 describes	nsubj
5	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 action	det
7	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 describes	obj
8	by	by	ADP	_	9 which	case
9	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 secured	obl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 brother	det
11	youngest	young	ADJ	Degree=Sup	12 brother	amod
12	brother	brother	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 secured	nsubj
13	secured	secure	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 action	acl:relcl
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 release	det
15	release	release	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 secured	obj
16	of	of	ADP	_	19 children	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 children	det
18	rescued	rescue	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	19 children	amod
19	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 release	nmod
20	from	from	ADP	_	22 serpent	case
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 serpent	det
22	serpent	serpent	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 children	nmod
23	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 describes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	describe	present		the action		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent action=Theme
3	secure	past	the youngest brother	the release of the rescued children from the serpent	by the action	vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition release=Theme
4	rescue	participle				vn steal-10.5 «NP V NP»: agent=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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

He severed the serpent's head with a single blow of his sword

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 severed	nsubj
2	severed	sever	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 serpent	det
4	serpent	serpent	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 head	nmod:poss
5	's	's	PART	_	4 serpent	case
6	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 severed	obj
7	with	with	ADP	_	10 blow	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 blow	det
9	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 blow	amod
10	blow	blow	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 severed	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 sword	case
12	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 sword	nmod:poss
13	sword	sword	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 blow	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sever	past	He	the serpent's head				with a single blow of his sword	vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Theme
2	blow		his sword						nom blow «act intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

He struck the snake with his bare hands

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 struck	nsubj
2	struck	strike	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 snake	det
4	snake	snake	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 struck	obj
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 hands	case
6	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 hands	nmod:poss
7	bare	bare	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 hands	amod
8	hands	hand	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 struck	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	strike	past	He	the snake				with snake's bare hands	vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent snake=Patient with hand=Instrument

Option 3

He cut its tail

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 cut	nsubj
2	cut	cut	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 tail	nmod:poss
4	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 cut	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cut	past	He	its tail					vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tail=Product

Option 4

He cut the serpent in two with a blow

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 cut	nsubj
2	cut	cut	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 serpent	det
4	serpent	serpent	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 cut	obj
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 two	case
6	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	2 cut	obl
7	with	with	ADP	_	9 blow	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 blow	det
9	blow	blow	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 cut	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cut	past	He	the serpent		two		with a blow	vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent serpent=Patient with blow=Instrument

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/1708-pg640-part32/e1/