Exam question 4 · Hauff's Tales, The Caliph Stork, part 9: the storks forget…

Which of the following best explains the sound heard by Mansor at the close of this part?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, explain, hear · To what, where: sound, close

This is exam question 4 of lesson 1872 «Hauff's Tales, The Caliph Stork, part 9: the storks forget the magic word and spend a night in a haunted ruin» 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	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 following	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 following	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 following	det
4	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	best	well	ADV	Degree=Sup	6 explains	advmod
6	explains	explain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 following	advcl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 sound	det
8	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 explains	obj
9	heard	hear	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 sound	acl
10	by	by	ADP	_	11 Mansor	case
11	Mansor	Mansor	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 heard	obl
12	at	at	ADP	_	14 close	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 close	det
14	close	close	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 heard	obl
15	of	of	ADP	_	17 part	case
16	this	this	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	17 part	det
17	part	part	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 close	nmod
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 following	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	explain speech: assert	present	the sound		well property	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sound=Topic
3	hear	participle	the sound not said here	the close of this part	by Mansor	vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer

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

An unseen presence in the ruin has wailed and groaned softly

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 presence	det
2	unseen	unseen	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 presence	amod
3	presence	presence	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 wailed	nsubj:pass
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 ruin	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 ruin	det
6	ruin	ruin	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 presence	nmod
7	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 wailed	aux
8	wailed	wail	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 groaned	cc
10	groaned	groan	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 wailed	conj
11	softly	softly	ADV	_	10 groaned	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	wail	present · perfect · passive		a unseen presence in the ruin					vn animal_sounds-38 «NP V NP.theme»: subject=Theme
2	groan	participle						softly property	vn animal_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

The wind through the broken walls was howling loudly

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 wind	det
2	wind	wind	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 howling	nsubj
3	through	through	ADP	_	6 walls	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 walls	det
5	broken	break	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 walls	amod
6	walls	wall	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 wind	nmod
7	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 howling	aux
8	howling	howl	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
9	loudly	loudly	ADV	_	8 howling	advmod

#	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
2	howl	past · progressive	the wind through the broken walls					loudly property	vn animal_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

An unseen presence in the ruin has sighed and moaned audibly, frightening Mansor and making him pray all night

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 presence	det
2	unseen	unseen	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 presence	amod
3	presence	presence	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 sighed	nsubj:pass
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 ruin	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 ruin	det
6	ruin	ruin	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 presence	nmod
7	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 sighed	aux
8	sighed	sigh	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 moaned	cc
10	moaned	moan	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 sighed	conj
11	audibly	audibly	ADV	_	10 moaned	advmod
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 Mansor	punct
13	frightening	frightening	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 Mansor	amod
14	Mansor	Mansor	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 moaned	obl
15	and	and	CCONJ	_	18 pray	cc
16	making	make	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	18 pray	advcl
17	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	16 making	obj
18	pray	pray	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 sighed	conj
19	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	20 night	det
20	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 pray	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	sigh	present · perfect · passive	a unseen presence in the ruin			vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic
2	moan	participle	frightening Mansor		audibly property	vn animal_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	make	gerund	Mansor			vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset he=Product
4	pray	infinitive		night		vn long-32.2 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Pivot

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

An unseen presence in the ruin has sighed and moaned audibly

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 presence	det
2	unseen	unseen	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 presence	amod
3	presence	presence	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 sighed	nsubj:pass
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 ruin	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 ruin	det
6	ruin	ruin	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 presence	nmod
7	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 sighed	aux
8	sighed	sigh	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 moaned	cc
10	moaned	moan	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 sighed	conj
11	audibly	audibly	ADV	_	10 moaned	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sigh	present · perfect · passive		a unseen presence in the ruin					vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic
2	moan	participle						audibly property	vn animal_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent

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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