Exam question 1 · pg641, The Fairy of the Dawn, part 29: Florea meets a thre…

Pursuant to the narrative, by what means did the old man's ashes cause the cherry-trees to blossom?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: narrative, ashes · What happens: mean, do, cause, blossom · To what, where: cherry trees

This is exam question 1 of lesson 1778 «pg641, The Fairy of the Dawn, part 29: Florea meets a three-headed dragon at the bridge» 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	Pursuant	pursuant	ADV	_	4 narrative	advmod
2	to	to	ADP	_	4 narrative	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 narrative	det
4	narrative	narrative	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 did	nsubj
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 means	punct
6	by	by	SCONJ	_	8 means	mark
7	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	8 means	nsubj
8	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 narrative	acl:relcl
9	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 man	det
11	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 man	amod
12	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 ashes	nmod:poss
13	's	's	PART	_	12 man	case
14	ashes	ash	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 cause	nsubj
15	cause	cause	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 did	parataxis
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 trees	det
17	cherry	cherry	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 trees	compound
18	-	-	PUNCT	_	17 cherry	punct
19	trees	tree	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 cause	obj
20	to	to	PART	_	21 blossom	mark
21	blossom	blossom	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	15 cause	advcl
22	?	?	PUNCT	_	9 did	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	mean	present	the narrative		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
2	do	past	the narrative		vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	cause	present	the old man's ashes	the cherry trees	vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition tree=Patient
4	blossom	to-infinitive	the old man's ashes not said here		vn entity_specific_cos-45.5 «NP.patient V»: agent=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 · ← Mova's choice

By being thrown upward by the old man from the tree onto the blossoming branches

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	3 thrown	mark
2	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 thrown	aux:pass
3	thrown	throw	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	upward	upward	ADV	_	3 thrown	advmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	8 man	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 man	det
7	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 man	amod
8	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 thrown	obl
9	from	from	ADP	_	11 tree	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 tree	det
11	tree	tree	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 thrown	obl
12	onto	onto	ADP	_	15 branches	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 branches	det
14	blossoming	blossoming	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 branches	compound
15	branches	branch	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 thrown	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	throw	gerund · passive	the old man			the tree		onto the blossoming branches; upward property	vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.initial_location PP.destination»: agent=Agent from tree=Initial_Location onto branch=Destination

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

By being scattered upon the branches

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	3 scattered	mark
2	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 scattered	aux:pass
3	scattered	scatter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	6 branches	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 branches	det
6	branches	branch	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 scattered	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	scatter	gerund · passive				the branches			vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V PP.destination»: upon branch=Destination

Option 3

By being sprinkled on the roots

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	3 sprinkled	mark
2	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 sprinkled	aux:pass
3	sprinkled	sprinkle	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	on	on	ADP	_	6 roots	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 roots	det
6	roots	root	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 sprinkled	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sprinkle	gerund · passive				the roots			vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V PP.destination»: on root=Destination

Option 4

By being carefully scattered upon all the bare branches of the trees

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	4 scattered	mark
2	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 scattered	aux:pass
3	carefully	carefully	ADV	_	4 scattered	advmod
4	scattered	scatter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	9 branches	case
6	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	9 branches	det:predet
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 branches	det
8	bare	bare	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 branches	amod
9	branches	branch	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 scattered	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 trees	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 trees	det
12	trees	tree	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 branches	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	scatter	gerund · passive				all bare branches of the trees		carefully property	vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V PP.destination»: upon branch=Destination

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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