Exam question 4 · Fairy Tales, Prince Featherhead, part 20: the fish sell we…

With reference to the passage, describe the manner in which the King first disposed of the strange fish he had caught in the valley.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, King, strange fish · What happens: describe, dispose, catch · To what, where: manner, King, valley

This is exam question 4 of lesson 1883 «Fairy Tales, Prince Featherhead, part 20: the fish sell well, Celandine comes to the valley, Featherhead ignores her» 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	With	with	ADP	_	2 reference	case
2	reference	reference	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 describe	obl
3	to	to	ADP	_	5 passage	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 passage	det
5	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reference	nmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 reference	punct
7	describe	describe	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 manner	det
9	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 describe	obj
10	in	in	ADP	_	11 which	case
11	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	15 disposed	obl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 King	det
13	King	King	PROPN	Number=Sing	15 disposed	nsubj
14	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	15 disposed	advmod
15	disposed	dispose	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 manner	acl:relcl
16	of	of	ADP	_	19 fish	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 fish	det
18	strange	strange	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 fish	amod
19	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 disposed	obl
20	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	22 caught	nsubj:pass
21	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	22 caught	aux
22	caught	catch	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	19 fish	acl:relcl
23	in	in	ADP	_	25 valley	case
24	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	25 valley	det
25	valley	valley	NOUN	Number=Sing	22 caught	obl
26	.	.	PUNCT	_	7 describe	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	describe	imperative	you not said here	the manner		with reference to the passage	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent manner=Theme
2	dispose	past	the King		the manner	of the strange fish; first property	vn addict-96 «NP V NP PP.Theme»: agent=Agent
3	catch	past · perfect · passive	the strange fish not said here	King	the valley		vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

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

he carried them to a far town and let them go

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 carried	nsubj
2	carried	carry	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 carried	obj
4	to	to	ADP	_	7 town	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 town	det
6	far	far	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 town	amod
7	town	town	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 carried	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 let	cc
9	let	let	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 carried	conj
10	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 let	obj
11	go	go	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 let	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	carry	past	he	them = they	a far town	vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Theme to town=Destination
2	let	infinitive	he not said here	them = they		tree rules
3	go	infinitive	them = they not said here			vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

he took them to the market and sold them there

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 took	nsubj
2	took	take	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 took	obj
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 market	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 market	det
6	market	market	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 took	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 sold	cc
8	sold	sell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 took	conj
9	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 sold	obj
10	there	there	ADV	PronType=Dem	8 sold	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	take	past	he	them = they		the market			vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Theme to market=Destination
2	sell	past	he not said here	them = they		there			vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme

Option 3

he kept them in a tank at home

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 kept	nsubj
2	kept	keep	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 kept	obj
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 tank	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 tank	det
6	tank	tank	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 kept	obl
7	at	at	ADP	_	8 home	case
8	home	home	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 kept	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	keep	past	he	them = they		a tank		at home	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent they=Theme in tank=Location

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

he carried them to the nearest town and sold them

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 carried	nsubj
2	carried	carry	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 carried	obj
4	to	to	ADP	_	7 town	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 town	det
6	nearest	near	ADJ	Degree=Sup	7 town	amod
7	town	town	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 carried	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 sold	cc
9	sold	sell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 carried	conj
10	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 sold	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	carry	past	he	them = they		the nearest town			vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Theme to town=Destination
2	sell	past	he not said here	them = they					vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=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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