Exam question 1 · Old Tales, Virgilius, part 65: Virgilius frees a spirit, g…

Which action of Virgilius, upon his return to Rome, is the most significant indication of his character?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: action, Virgilius · What happens: be, act, return · To what, where: significant indication

This is exam question 1 of lesson 1814 «Old Tales, Virgilius, part 65: Virgilius frees a spirit, gets the magic books, and faces his foes» 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	16 indication	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 Virgilius	case
4	Virgilius	Virgilius	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 action	nmod
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 return	punct
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	8 return	case
7	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 return	nmod:poss
8	return	return	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 action	nmod
9	to	to	ADP	_	10 Rome	case
10	Rome	Rome	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 return	nmod
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 action	punct
12	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	16 indication	cop
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 indication	det
14	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	15 significant	advmod
15	significant	significant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 indication	amod
16	indication	indication	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
17	of	of	ADP	_	19 character	case
18	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	19 character	nmod:poss
19	character	character	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 indication	nmod
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	16 indication	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is a	present	which action of Virgilius upon Virgilius's return to Rome	the significant indication	of Rome's character	tree rules
2	act		Virgilius		upon Virgilius's return to Rome	nom action «act intransitive»: of=agent upon=obl
3	return		Virgilius		to Rome	nom return «communication intransitive»: poss=agent to=obl

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

His liberal distribution of gifts to the poor relations and to those who had shown kindness to his mother

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	His	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 distribution	nmod:poss
2	liberal	liberal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 distribution	amod
3	distribution	distribution	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 gifts	case
5	gifts	gift	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 distribution	nmod
6	to	to	ADP	_	9 relations	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 relations	det
8	poor	poor	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 relations	amod
9	relations	relation	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 gifts	nmod
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 kindness	cc
11	to	to	ADP	_	12 those	case
12	those	that	DET	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	16 kindness	det
13	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	15 shown	nsubj
14	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	15 shown	aux
15	shown	show	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	16 kindness	amod
16	kindness	kindness	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 relations	conj
17	to	to	ADP	_	19 mother	case
18	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	19 mother	nmod:poss
19	mother	mother	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 kindness	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	show	past · perfect	that shown kindness to his mother						vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	distribute		His = he	gifts to the poor relations and that shown kindness to his mother					nom distribution «cognition transitive»: poss=agent of=patient

Option 2

His loyal return to Toledo to rescue the pack-horses from the robbers on the mountain road

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	His	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 return	nmod:poss
2	loyal	loyal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 return	amod
3	return	return	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 rescue	nsubj
4	to	to	ADP	_	5 Toledo	case
5	Toledo	Toledo	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 return	nmod
6	to	to	PART	_	7 rescue	mark
7	rescue	rescue	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 horses	det
9	pack	pack	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 horses	compound
10	-	-	PUNCT	_	9 pack	punct
11	horses	horse	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 rescue	obj
12	from	from	ADP	_	14 robbers	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 robbers	det
14	robbers	robber	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 rescue	obl
15	on	on	ADP	_	18 road	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 road	det
17	mountain	mountain	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 road	compound
18	road	road	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 rescue	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rescue	to-infinitive	His loyal return to Toledo	the pack horses		the robbers		on the mountain road	vn steal-10.5 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent horse=Theme from robber=Source
2	return		His = he					to Toledo	nom return «communication intransitive»: poss=agent to=obl

Option 3

His steadfast refusal to accept any payment from the emperor for the sorcery he performed

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	His	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 refusal	nmod:poss
2	steadfast	steadfast	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 refusal	amod
3	refusal	refusal	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 accept	nsubj
4	to	to	PART	_	5 accept	mark
5	accept	accept	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	7 payment	det
7	payment	payment	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 accept	obj
8	from	from	ADP	_	10 emperor	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 emperor	det
10	emperor	emperor	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 payment	nmod
11	for	for	ADP	_	13 sorcery	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 sorcery	det
13	sorcery	sorcery	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 accept	obl
14	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 performed	nsubj
15	performed	perform	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	13 sorcery	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	accept	to-infinitive	His steadfast refusal	any payment	from the emperor; for the sorcery	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent payment=Theme from emperor=Source
2	perform	past	refusal	the sorcery not said here		vn performance-26.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sorcery=Theme
3	refuse		His = he			nom refusal «communication transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

Gifts to the poor

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Gifts	gift	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
2	to	to	ADP	_	4 poor	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 poor	det
4	poor	poor	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Gifts	nmod

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

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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