Exam question 3 · Russian Folk-Tales, Vassili and Mark the Rich, part 6: Vas…

State the precise condition under which the ferryman may be released from his duty of rowing across the river.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: duty · What happens: release, row · To what, where: ferryman, precise condition, river

This is exam question 3 of lesson 1755 «Russian Folk-Tales, Vassili and Mark the Rich, part 6: Vassili visits the Serpent King and tricks him out of Mark's ships» 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	State	state	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 condition	nsubj
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 condition	det
3	precise	precise	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 condition	amod
4	condition	condition	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	under	under	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 released	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 ferryman	det
8	ferryman	ferryman	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 released	nsubj:pass
9	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	11 released	aux
10	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	11 released	aux:pass
11	released	release	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 condition	acl:relcl
12	from	from	ADP	_	14 duty	case
13	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 duty	nmod:poss
14	duty	duty	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 released	obl
15	of	of	SCONJ	_	16 rowing	mark
16	rowing	row	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	14 duty	acl
17	across	across	ADP	_	19 river	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 river	det
19	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 rowing	obl
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	4 condition	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	release	may · passive		the ferryman		the precise condition		from State's duty	vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: subject=Source
2	row	gerund	State's duty not said here			the river			vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent across river=Trajectory

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

A new boatman must come

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 boatman	det
2	new	new	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 boatman	amod
3	boatman	boatman	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 come	nsubj
4	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 come	aux
5	come	come	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	come	must	a new boatman						vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

A substitute must be placed in the boat to take his position

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 substitute	det
2	substitute	substitute	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 placed	nsubj:pass
3	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 placed	aux
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 placed	aux:pass
5	placed	place	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 boat	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 boat	det
8	boat	boat	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 placed	obl
9	to	to	PART	_	10 take	mark
10	take	take	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 placed	advcl
11	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 position	nmod:poss
12	position	position	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 take	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	place	must · passive		a substitute		the boat			vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in boat=Destination
2	take	to-infinitive		substitute's position					vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent position=Theme

Option 3

Someone must row for him

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Someone	someone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	3 row	nsubj
2	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 row	aux
3	row	row	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 him	case
5	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 row	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	row	must	Someone					for him = he	vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

Another man must sit in the boat for him

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	2 man	det
2	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 sit	nsubj
3	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 sit	aux
4	sit	sit	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 boat	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 boat	det
7	boat	boat	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 sit	obl
8	for	for	ADP	_	9 him	case
9	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 sit	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sit	must	another man			the boat		for him = he	vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in boat=Location

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.

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