Exam question 1 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, Little Klaus and Big Klaus: Little…

What is the function of the tar smeared on the base of the measure?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: function · What happens: be, smear · To what, where: base

This is exam question 1 of lesson 1729 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, Little Klaus and Big Klaus: Little Klaus sells the sexton and then his dead grandmother for money» 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	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	8 smeared	obj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 What	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 function	det
4	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 smeared	nsubj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 tar	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 tar	det
7	tar	tar	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 function	nmod
8	smeared	smear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	on	on	ADP	_	11 base	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 base	det
11	base	base	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 smeared	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 measure	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 measure	det
14	measure	measure	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 base	nmod
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 smeared	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present							tree rules
2	smear	past	the function of the tar			the base of the measure			vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme on base=Destination

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

To make the measure heavier for sale

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 make	mark
2	make	make	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 measure	det
4	measure	measure	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 make	obj
5	heavier	heavy	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	2 make	xcomp
6	for	for	ADP	_	7 sale	case
7	sale	sale	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 heavier	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	make	to-infinitive		the measure				heavy property	vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset measure=Product

Option 2

To trap coins stuck to the base and reveal them

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 trap	mark
2	trap	trap	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	coins	coin	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 trap	obj
4	stuck	stick	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 coins	acl
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 base	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 base	det
7	base	base	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 stuck	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 reveal	cc
9	reveal	reveal	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	2 trap	conj
10	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 reveal	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	trap	to-infinitive	coins		vn trick-59.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent coin=Patient
2	stick	participle	coins not said here	to the base	vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent to base=Co-Patient
3	reveal	infinitive	coins = coin		vn confess-37.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Topic

Option 3

To keep the measure clean and dry

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 keep	mark
2	keep	keep	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 measure	det
4	measure	measure	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 keep	obj
5	clean	clean	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 keep	xcomp
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 dry	cc
7	dry	dry	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 clean	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	keep	to-infinitive		the measure				clean property	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent measure=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

To retain coins that adhere to the base

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 retain	mark
2	retain	retain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	coins	coin	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 retain	obj
4	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 adhere	nsubj
5	adhere	adhere	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 coins	acl:relcl
6	to	to	ADP	_	8 base	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 base	det
8	base	base	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 adhere	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	retain	to-infinitive		coins					tree rules
2	adhere	present	coins					to the base	vn cling-22.5 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme to base=Co-Theme

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/1729-pg640-part53/e1/