Exam question 2 · Fairy Tales, The Tinder-Box, part 62: the Soldier sees the…

By what means did the Queen ascertain the route taken by the Princess?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: mean, do, ascertain, take · To what, where: Queen, route · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 2 of lesson 1738 «Fairy Tales, The Tinder-Box, part 62: the Soldier sees the Princess, is jailed, and is sentenced to hang» 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	SCONJ	_	3 means	mark
2	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	3 means	nsubj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 ascertain	advcl
4	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 means	ccomp
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Queen	det
6	Queen	Queen	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 did	obj
7	ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 route	det
9	route	route	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 ascertain	obj
10	taken	take	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 route	acl
11	by	by	ADP	_	13 Princess	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 Princess	det
13	Princess	princess	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 taken	obl
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	mean	present			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	do	past	the Queen		vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent queen=Eventuality
3	ascertain	present	the route		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent route=Topic
4	take	participle	the route not said here	by the Princess	vn bring-11.3 «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

chalk marks on the doors

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	chalk	chalk	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 marks	compound
2	marks	mark	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	on	on	ADP	_	5 doors	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 doors	det
5	doors	door	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 marks	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

grains of buckwheat strewn from a perforated silken bag

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	grains	grain	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 strewn	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	3 buckwheat	case
3	buckwheat	buckwheat	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 grains	nmod
4	strewn	strewn	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	from	from	ADP	_	9 bag	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 bag	det
7	perforated	perforate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 bag	amod
8	silken	silken	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 bag	amod
9	bag	bag	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 strewn	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	strewn	participle	grains of buckwheat			a perforated silken bag			tree rules
2	perforate	participle							vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient

Option 3

a trail of wet sand from a pouch

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 trail	det
2	trail	trail	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 sand	case
4	wet	wet	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 sand	amod
5	sand	sand	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 trail	nmod
6	from	from	ADP	_	8 pouch	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 pouch	det
8	pouch	pouch	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 trail	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

a silver thread tied to the gate

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 thread	det
2	silver	silver	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 thread	compound
3	thread	thread	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	tied	tie	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 thread	acl
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 gate	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 gate	det
7	gate	gate	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 tied	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tie	participle		a silver thread not said here				to the gate	vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V ADVP-Middle PP»: agent=Patient to gate=Co-Patient

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/1738-pg640-part62/e2/