Exam question 3 · Arabian Nights, The Third Calender, part 14: the narrator…

What was the narrator's principal reason for refusing the genius's final command?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: principal reason, genius · What happens: be, refuse, command · To what, where: principal reason, final command · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 3 of lesson 174 «Arabian Nights, The Third Calender, part 14: the narrator smashes the talisman, and the genius catches him» 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	7 reason	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 reason	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 narrator	det
4	narrator	narrator	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 reason	nmod:poss
5	's	's	PART	_	4 narrator	case
6	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 reason	amod
7	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
8	for	for	SCONJ	_	9 refusing	mark
9	refusing	refuse	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 reason	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 genius	det
11	genius	genius	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 command	nmod:poss
12	's	's	PART	_	11 genius	case
13	final	final	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 command	amod
14	command	command	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 refusing	obj
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 reason	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	is a	past		the narrator's principal reason	tree rules
2	refuse	gerund	the narrator's principal reason not said here	the genius's final command	vn reject-77.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent command=Theme
3	command		the genius		nom command «communication transitive»: poss=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

He would not kill a stranger woman

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	4 kill	nsubj
2	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 kill	aux
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 kill	advmod
4	kill	kill	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 woman	det
6	stranger	stranger	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 woman	compound
7	woman	woman	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 kill	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not kill	would	He	a stranger woman					vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent woman=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

He would not slay a lady unknown to him

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	4 slay	nsubj
2	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 slay	aux
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 slay	advmod
4	slay	slay	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 lady	det
6	lady	lady	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 slay	obj
7	unknown	unknown	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 slay	xcomp
8	to	to	ADP	_	9 him	case
9	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 unknown	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not slay	would	He	a lady				unknown property	vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lady=Patient

Option 3

He would not slay a lady unknown to him, since he had sworn an oath to the holy men of the monastery

The tree, 22 words

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	4 slay	nsubj
2	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 slay	aux
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 slay	advmod
4	slay	slay	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 lady	det
6	lady	lady	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 slay	obj
7	unknown	unknown	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 slay	xcomp
8	to	to	ADP	_	9 him	case
9	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 unknown	obl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 sworn	punct
11	since	since	SCONJ	_	14 sworn	mark
12	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 sworn	nsubj
13	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	14 sworn	aux
14	sworn	swear	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 slay	conj
15	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 oath	det
16	oath	oath	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 sworn	obj
17	to	to	ADP	_	20 men	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 men	det
19	holy	holy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 men	amod
20	men	man	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 sworn	obl
21	of	of	ADP	_	23 monastery	case
22	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	23 monastery	det
23	monastery	monastery	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 men	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not slay	would	He	a lady				unknown property	vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lady=Patient
2	swear	past · perfect	he	a oath				to the holy men of the monastery	vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent oath=Eventuality

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

He would not slay a lady unknown to him, whatever the genius might threaten him with

The tree, 16 words

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	4 slay	nsubj
2	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 slay	aux
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 slay	advmod
4	slay	slay	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 lady	det
6	lady	lady	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 slay	obj
7	unknown	unknown	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 slay	xcomp
8	to	to	ADP	_	9 him	case
9	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 unknown	obl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 threaten	punct
11	whatever	whatever	PRON	PronType=Rel	15 threaten	obj
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 genius	det
13	genius	genius	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 threaten	nsubj
14	might	might	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	15 threaten	aux
15	threaten	threaten	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 slay	conj
16	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 threaten	obj
17	with	with	ADP	_	15 threaten	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not slay	would	He	a lady				unknown property	vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lady=Patient
2	threaten	might	the genius	whatever					vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Stimulus whatever=Experiencer he=Result

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/174-pg128-part14/e3/