Exam question 3 · Swahili Tales, The Nunda: the sultan's cat devours his peo…

In what manner does the youngest son respond when his father and mother beg him to abandon the pursuit?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: father · What happens: do, beg, abandon · To what, where: youngest son respond, manner, him, pursuit

This is exam question 3 of lesson 1795 «Swahili Tales, The Nunda: the sultan's cat devours his people, and his youngest son sets out to slay it» 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	In	in	ADP	_	3 manner	case
2	what	what	DET	PronType=Int	3 manner	det
3	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 does	obl
4	does	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 respond	det
6	youngest	young	ADJ	Degree=Sup	8 respond	amod
7	son	son	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 respond	compound
8	respond	respond	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 does	obj
9	when	when	SCONJ	_	14 beg	mark
10	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 father	nmod:poss
11	father	father	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 beg	nsubj
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 mother	cc
13	mother	mother	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 father	conj
14	beg	beg	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 does	advcl
15	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 beg	obj
16	to	to	PART	_	17 abandon	mark
17	abandon	abandon	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	14 beg	advcl
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 pursuit	det
19	pursuit	pursuit	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 abandon	obj
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 does	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	roles by
1	do	present		the youngest son respond		what manner	vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent respond=Eventuality
2	beg speech: request	present	his father and mother		him = he		vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.Topic»: agent=Agent he=Recipient
3	abandon	to-infinitive	his father and mother not said here	the pursuit			vn leave-51.2 «NP V NP.initial_location»: agent=Theme pursuit=Source

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 · ✓ the right answer

He declines, affirming that he will continue the search each day

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 declines	nsubj
2	declines	decline	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 affirming	punct
4	affirming	affirm	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 declines	advcl
5	that	that	SCONJ	_	8 continue	mark
6	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 continue	nsubj
7	will	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	8 continue	aux
8	continue	continue	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 affirming	advcl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 search	det
10	search	search	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 continue	obj
11	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	12 day	det
12	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 continue	obl:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	decline	present	He			vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute
2	affirm	gerund	He not said here			vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer
3	continue	future	he	the search	day	vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent search=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

He declines, affirming that he will continue the search each day until the beast is slain and the sultan is made to see the truth

The tree, 25 words

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 declines	nsubj
2	declines	decline	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 affirming	punct
4	affirming	affirm	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 declines	advcl
5	that	that	SCONJ	_	8 continue	mark
6	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 continue	nsubj
7	will	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	8 continue	aux
8	continue	continue	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 affirming	advcl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 search	det
10	search	search	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 continue	obj
11	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	12 day	det
12	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 continue	obl:unmarked
13	until	until	SCONJ	_	17 slain	mark
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 beast	det
15	beast	beast	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 slain	nsubj
16	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	17 slain	cop
17	slain	slain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 continue	advcl
18	and	and	CCONJ	_	22 made	cc
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 sultan	det
20	sultan	sultan	NOUN	Number=Sing	22 made	nsubj:pass
21	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	22 made	aux:pass
22	made	make	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 declines	conj
23	to	to	PART	_	24 see	mark
24	see	see	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	22 made	xcomp
25	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	26 truth	det
26	truth	truth	NOUN	Number=Sing	24 see	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	decline	present	He				vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute
2	affirm	gerund	He not said here				vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer
3	continue	future	he	the search	day		vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent search=Theme
4	is	present	the beast			slain property	tree rules
5	make	present · passive		the sultan			tree rules
6	see	to-infinitive	the sultan not said here	the truth			vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer truth=Stimulus

Option 3

He agrees, promising to return home with the cat's head soon

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 agrees	nsubj
2	agrees	agree	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 promising	punct
4	promising	promise	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 agrees	advcl
5	to	to	PART	_	6 return	mark
6	return	return	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 promising	xcomp
7	home	home	ADV	_	6 return	advmod
8	with	with	ADP	_	12 head	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 cat	det
10	cat	cat	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 head	nmod:poss
11	's	's	PART	_	10 cat	case
12	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 return	obl
13	soon	soon	ADV	Degree=Pos	6 return	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	agree speech: agree	present	He		vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	promise speech: promise	gerund	He not said here		vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	return not said to happen	to-infinitive	He not said here	with the cat's head; home, soon property	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

He refuses, vowing to keep hunting the beast every single day

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 refuses	nsubj
2	refuses	refuse	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 vowing	punct
4	vowing	vow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 refuses	advcl
5	to	to	PART	_	6 keep	mark
6	keep	keep	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 vowing	xcomp
7	hunting	hunt	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 keep	xcomp
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 beast	det
9	beast	beast	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 hunting	obj
10	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	12 day	det
11	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 day	amod
12	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 hunting	obl:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	refuse	present	He			vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent
2	vow	gerund	He not said here			tree rules
3	keep not said to happen	to-infinitive	He not said here			tree rules
4	hunt	gerund	He not said here	the beast	day	vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent beast=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.

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