Exam question 1 · Fairy Tales, Elsa and Kisika, part 2: Elsa is taken into a…

Which of the following best describes the means by which the girl Kisika transports Elsa across the water?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: the, girl · What happens: follow, describe, mean, transport · To what, where: Elsa, water

This is exam question 1 of lesson 1751 «Fairy Tales, Elsa and Kisika, part 2: Elsa is taken into a magic garden, sails a sea made from a shell, and becomes a new daughter» 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	6 describes	obj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 best	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 best	det
4	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 best	case
5	best	good	ADJ	Degree=Sup	6 describes	nmod
6	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 means	advcl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 means	nsubj
8	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	by	by	ADP	_	10 which	case
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	14 transports	obl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 girl	det
12	girl	girl	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 transports	nsubj
13	Kisika	Kisika	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 girl	appos
14	transports	transport	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 means	parataxis
15	Elsa	Elsa	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 transports	obj
16	across	across	ADP	_	18 water	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 water	det
18	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 transports	obl
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 means	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund					vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	describe	present	the not said here			of the best	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent which=Theme
3	mean	present	the				vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
4	transport	present	the girl	Elsa	the water		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus elsa=Experiencer

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

By means of a magical boat which grows from a mussel shell after the girl sprinkles water and sings

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	2 means	case
2	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 boat	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 boat	det
5	magical	magical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 boat	amod
6	boat	boat	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 means	obl
7	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 grows	nsubj
8	grows	grow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 boat	acl:relcl
9	from	from	ADP	_	12 shell	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 shell	det
11	mussel	mussel	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 shell	compound
12	shell	shell	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 grows	obl
13	after	after	SCONJ	_	16 sprinkles	mark
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 girl	det
15	girl	girl	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 sprinkles	nsubj
16	sprinkles	sprinkle	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 grows	advcl
17	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 sprinkles	obj
18	and	and	CCONJ	_	19 sings	cc
19	sings	sing	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 means	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	mean	present			of a magical boat	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
2	grow	present	a magical boat		from a mussel shell	vn grow-26.2.1 «NP.product V PP.patient»: agent=Product from shell=Patient
3	sprinkle	present	the girl	water		vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent water=Theme
4	sing speech: express	present				vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

By shaking two drops of water from a box onto the ground

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 shaking	mark
2	shaking	shake	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 drops	nummod
4	drops	drop	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 shaking	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 water	case
6	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 drops	nmod
7	from	from	ADP	_	9 box	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 box	det
9	box	box	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 shaking	obl
10	onto	onto	ADP	_	12 ground	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 ground	det
12	ground	ground	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 shaking	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	shake	gerund		two drops of water		a box		onto the ground	vn funnel-9.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.initial_location PP.destination»: agent=Agent drop=Theme from box=Initial_Location onto ground=Destination

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

By climbing onto a bird's back and flying over the sea

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 climbing	mark
2	climbing	climb	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	onto	onto	ADP	_	7 back	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 bird	det
5	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 back	nmod:poss
6	's	's	PART	_	5 bird	case
7	back	back	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 climbing	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 flying	cc
9	flying	fly	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 climbing	conj
10	over	over	ADP	_	12 sea	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 sea	det
12	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 flying	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	climb	gerund				a bird's back			vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme onto back=Trajectory
2	fly	gerund				the sea			vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over sea=Location

Option 4

By rowing a small boat across the calm lake water

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 rowing	mark
2	rowing	row	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 boat	det
4	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 boat	amod
5	boat	boat	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 rowing	obj
6	across	across	ADP	_	10 water	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 water	det
8	calm	calm	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 water	amod
9	lake	lake	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 water	compound
10	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 rowing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	row	gerund		a small boat		the calm lake water			vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent boat=Theme across water=Trajectory

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/1751-pg641-part2/e1/