Exam question 1 · Arabian Nights, The Monkey Who Could Write, part 16: the m…
Which action did the narrator take to secure the captain's protection?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: action, captain · What happens: take, secure, protect · To what, where: protection
This is exam question 1 of lesson 176 «Arabian Nights, The Monkey Who Could Write, part 16: the monkey's handwriting wins the Sultan's favour, and the princess reveals his secret» 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 | DET | PronType=Int | 2 action | det |
| 2 | action | action | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 take | nsubj |
| 3 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 take | aux |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 narrator | det |
| 5 | narrator | narrator | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 take | nsubj |
| 6 | take | take | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 7 | to | to | PART | _ | 8 secure | mark |
| 8 | secure | secure | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 6 take | advcl |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 captain | det |
| 10 | captain | captain | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 protection | nmod:poss |
| 11 | 's | 's | PART | _ | 10 captain | case |
| 12 | protection | protection | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 secure | obj |
| 13 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 6 take | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | take | past · do-support | which action | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | secure | to-infinitive | which action not said here | the captain's protection | vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition protection=Theme | ||||
| 3 | protect | the captain | nom protection «act 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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer
He grasped the captain's garment firmly
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 | 2 grasped | nsubj |
| 2 | grasped | grasp | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 captain | det |
| 4 | captain | captain | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 garment | nmod:poss |
| 5 | 's | 's | PART | _ | 4 captain | case |
| 6 | garment | garment | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 grasped | obj |
| 7 | firmly | firmly | ADV | _ | 2 grasped | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | grasp | past | He | the captain's garment | firmly property | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer garment=Stimulus |
Option 2
He pulled the captain's sleeve gently
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 | 2 pulled | nsubj |
| 2 | pulled | pull | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 captain | det |
| 4 | captain | captain | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 sleeve | nmod:poss |
| 5 | 's | 's | PART | _ | 4 captain | case |
| 6 | sleeve | sleeve | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 pulled | obj |
| 7 | gently | gently | ADV | _ | 2 pulled | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | pull | past | He | the captain's sleeve | gently property | vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sleeve=Theme |
Option 3
He clutched the captain's robe and pleaded for a pardon from the Sultan
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 | 2 clutched | nsubj |
| 2 | clutched | clutch | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 captain | det |
| 4 | captain | captain | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 robe | nmod:poss |
| 5 | 's | 's | PART | _ | 4 captain | case |
| 6 | robe | robe | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 clutched | obj |
| 7 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 8 pleaded | cc |
| 8 | pleaded | plead | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 clutched | conj |
| 9 | for | for | ADP | _ | 11 pardon | case |
| 10 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 11 pardon | det |
| 11 | pardon | pardon | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 pleaded | obl |
| 12 | from | from | ADP | _ | 14 Sultan | case |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 Sultan | det |
| 14 | Sultan | Sultan | PROPN | Number=Sing | 8 pleaded | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | clutch | past | He | the captain's robe | vn hold-15.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent robe=Theme | ||||
| 2 | plead speech: request | past | He not said here | the Sultan | for a pardon | tree rules |
Option 4
He grasped the captain's garment firmly and begged for mercy
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 | 2 grasped | nsubj |
| 2 | grasped | grasp | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 captain | det |
| 4 | captain | captain | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 garment | nmod:poss |
| 5 | 's | 's | PART | _ | 4 captain | case |
| 6 | garment | garment | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 grasped | obj |
| 7 | firmly | firmly | ADV | _ | 2 grasped | advmod |
| 8 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 9 begged | cc |
| 9 | begged | beg | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 2 grasped | conj |
| 10 | for | for | ADP | _ | 11 mercy | case |
| 11 | mercy | mercy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 begged | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | grasp | past | He | the captain's garment | firmly property | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer garment=Stimulus | |||
| 2 | beg speech: request | participle | He not said here | for mercy | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V PP.Topic»: agent=Agent for mercy=Topic |
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/176-pg128-part16/e1/