Exam question 1 · Arabian Nights, Sultan Darai and the Gazelle, part 24: the…

By what means did the gazelle dispatch the serpent?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · What happens: mean, do, dispatch · To what, where: gazelle, serpent · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 1 of lesson 1773 «Arabian Nights, Sultan Darai and the Gazelle, part 24: the gazelle slays the seven-headed snake» 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 dispatch	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 gazelle	det
6	gazelle	gazelle	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 did	obj
7	dispatch	dispatch	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 serpent	det
9	serpent	serpent	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 dispatch	obj
10	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 dispatch	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	roles by
1	mean	present		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	do	past	the gazelle	vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent gazelle=Eventuality
3	dispatch	present	the serpent	vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent serpent=Patient

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 cutting its body into many pieces at dawn while it slept

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 cutting	mark
2	cutting	cut	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 body	nmod:poss
4	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 cutting	obj
5	into	into	ADP	_	7 pieces	case
6	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 pieces	amod
7	pieces	piece	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 cutting	obl
8	at	at	ADP	_	9 dawn	case
9	dawn	dawn	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 cutting	obl
10	while	while	SCONJ	_	12 slept	mark
11	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 slept	nsubj
12	slept	sleep	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 cutting	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cut	gerund		its body		many pieces	dawn		vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP.material PP.product»: agent=Agent body=Material into piece=Product
2	sleep	past	body						vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

By cutting off its tail with an axe

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 cutting	mark
2	cutting	cut	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	off	off	ADP	_	2 cutting	compound:prt
4	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 tail	nmod:poss
5	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 cutting	obj
6	with	with	ADP	_	8 axe	case
7	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 axe	det
8	axe	axe	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 cutting	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cut off	gerund		its tail				with a axe	vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector tail=Eventuality

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

By severing its seven heads with a sword

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 severing	mark
2	severing	sever	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 heads	nmod:poss
4	seven	seven	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	5 heads	nummod
5	heads	head	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 severing	obj
6	with	with	ADP	_	8 sword	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 sword	det
8	sword	sword	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 severing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sever	gerund		its seven heads				with a sword	vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Theme

Option 4

By stabbing it through the heart with a spear and then burning the remains

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 stabbing	mark
2	stabbing	stab	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 stabbing	obj
4	through	through	ADP	_	6 heart	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 heart	det
6	heart	heart	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 stabbing	obl
7	with	with	ADP	_	9 spear	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 spear	det
9	spear	spear	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 heart	nmod
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 burning	cc
11	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	12 burning	advmod
12	burning	burn	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 stabbing	conj
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 remains	det
14	remains	remains	NOUN	Number=Ptan	12 burning	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	stab	gerund		it				through the heart with a spear	vn poke-19-1-1 «NP V NP PP.patient»: agent=Agent it=Instrument through heart=Patient
2	burn	gerund		the remains			then		vn light_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent remains=Theme

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/1773-pg641-part24/e1/