Exam question 3 · Indian Fairy Tales, Balna, part 5: Lambikin is tricked int…

What reason does the narrator give for the Raja's decision to hide and observe his daughters at their cooking?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: reason, Raja, daughters · What happens: give, hide, observe, decide, cook · To what, where: daughters, cooking

This is exam question 3 of lesson 1821 «Indian Fairy Tales, Balna, part 5: Lambikin is tricked into a drum and eaten, then the Raja's daughters are starved by a cruel stepmother» 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	What	what	DET	PronType=Int	2 reason	det
2	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 give	nsubj:outer
3	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 give	aux
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 narrator	det
5	narrator	narrator	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 give	nsubj
6	give	give	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
7	for	for	ADP	_	11 decision	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 Raja	det
9	Raja	Raja	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 decision	nmod:poss
10	's	's	PART	_	9 Raja	case
11	decision	decision	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 give	obl
12	to	to	PART	_	13 hide	mark
13	hide	hide	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 give	advcl
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 observe	cc
15	observe	observe	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	13 hide	conj
16	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	17 daughters	nmod:poss
17	daughters	daughter	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 observe	obj
18	at	at	ADP	_	20 cooking	case
19	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	20 cooking	nmod:poss
20	cooking	cooking	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 observe	obl
21	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 give	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	give	present · do-support	what reason			for the Raja's decision	vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent for decision=Asset
2	hide	to-infinitive	what reason not said here				vn concealment-16-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	observe	infinitive	what reason not said here	narrator's daughters	daughters's cooking		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent daughter=Topic
4	decide		the Raja				nom decision «act transitive»: poss=agent
5	cook		daughters = daughter				nom cooking «act intransitive»: poss=agent

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

The dust that ruined his favourite bowls

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 dust	det
2	dust	dust	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 ruined	nsubj
3	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 ruined	nsubj
4	ruined	ruin	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 bowls	nmod:poss
6	favourite	favourite	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 bowls	amod
7	bowls	bowl	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 ruined	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ruin	past	the dust	dust's favourite bowls					vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bowl=Patient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The mud that had repeatedly spoiled his dinner

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 mud	det
2	mud	mud	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 spoiled	nsubj:pass
4	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 spoiled	aux
5	repeatedly	repeatedly	ADV	_	6 spoiled	advmod
6	spoiled	spoil	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 mud	acl:relcl
7	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 dinner	nmod:poss
8	dinner	dinner	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 spoiled	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	spoil	past · perfect · passive		the mud				repeatedly property	tree rules

Option 3

Because the widow had insulted him in front of the whole court and his family

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Because	because	SCONJ	_	5 insulted	mark
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 widow	det
3	widow	widow	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 insulted	nsubj:pass
4	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 insulted	aux
5	insulted	insult	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 insulted	obj
7	in	in	ADP	_	8 front	case
8	front	front	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 insulted	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	12 court	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 court	det
11	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 court	amod
12	court	court	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 front	nmod
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 family	cc
14	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	15 family	nmod:poss
15	family	family	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 court	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	insult	past · perfect · passive		the widow		front of the whole court and widow's family			vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Experiencer he=Result

Option 4

The stones that kept breaking his teeth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 stones	det
2	stones	stone	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 kept	nsubj
3	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 kept	nsubj
4	kept	keep	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	breaking	break	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 kept	xcomp
6	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 teeth	nmod:poss
7	teeth	tooth	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 breaking	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	keep	past	the stones						tree rules
2	break	gerund	the stones not said here	his teeth					vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer tooth=Patient

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/1821-pg7128-part5/e3/