Exam question 3 · Arabian Nights, Sindbad the Sailor, part 21: Hindbad the p…

Which object did Sindbad employ to sustain himself upon the water after the whale submerged?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: object · What happens: employ, sustain, submerge · To what, where: Sindbad, whale

This is exam question 3 of lesson 181 «Arabian Nights, Sindbad the Sailor, part 21: Hindbad the porter is summoned to Sindbad's feast and hears how the voyages began» 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 object	det
2	object	object	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 employ	nsubj
3	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 employ	aux
4	Sindbad	Sindbad	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 employ	nsubj
5	employ	employ	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	to	to	PART	_	7 sustain	mark
7	sustain	sustain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 employ	xcomp
8	himself	himself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	7 sustain	obj
9	upon	upon	ADP	_	11 water	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 water	det
11	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 sustain	obl
12	after	after	ADP	_	14 whale	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 whale	det
14	whale	whale	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 sustain	obl
15	submerged	submerge	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 whale	acl
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 employ	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	employ	past · do-support	which object				vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent clause=Attribute
2	sustain	to-infinitive	which object not said here	Sindbad	after the whale	upon the water	vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent himself=Theme
3	submerge	participle		the whale not said here			vn other_cos-45.4 «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

a plank from the broken ship

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 plank	det
2	plank	plank	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	6 ship	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 ship	det
5	broken	break	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 ship	amod
6	ship	ship	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 plank	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	break	participle							vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient

Option 2

a heavy beam of timber, with its sail and rigging still tangled about it, drifting near him

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 beam	det
2	heavy	heavy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 beam	amod
3	beam	beam	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 timber	case
5	timber	timber	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 beam	nmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 sail	punct
7	with	with	ADP	_	9 sail	case
8	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 sail	nmod:poss
9	sail	sail	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 beam	conj
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 rigging	cc
11	rigging	rig	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	9 sail	conj
12	still	still	ADV	_	13 tangled	advmod
13	tangled	tangle	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 rigging	advcl
14	about	about	ADP	_	15 it	case
15	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 tangled	obl
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 drifting	punct
17	drifting	drift	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	11 rigging	conj
18	near	near	ADP	_	19 him	case
19	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	17 drifting	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	rig	gerund				tree rules
2	tangle	participle		still	about sail	tree rules
3	drift	gerund			near him = he	vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme near he=Trajectory
4	beam		timber			nom beam «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

a piece of wood from the fire

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 piece	det
2	piece	piece	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 wood	case
4	wood	wood	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 piece	nmod
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 fire	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 fire	det
7	fire	fire	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 piece	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

a large wooden chest that the sailors had filled with their food and their drinking water

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 chest	det
2	large	large	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 chest	amod
3	wooden	wooden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 chest	amod
4	chest	chest	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	that	that	SCONJ	_	9 filled	mark
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 sailors	det
7	sailors	sailor	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 filled	nsubj
8	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 filled	aux
9	filled	fill	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	4 chest	acl
10	with	with	ADP	_	12 food	case
11	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 food	nmod:poss
12	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 filled	obl
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 water	cc
14	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	16 water	nmod:poss
15	drinking	drinking	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 water	compound
16	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 food	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fill	past · perfect	the sailors	a large wooden chest not said here				with sailors's food and sailors's drinking water	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent chest=Patient with food=Instrument

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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