Exam question 2 · fairy tales (pg7277), The Little Soldier, part 37: John bu…

State the reason the guards gave for refusing the soldier entry to the palace.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: State reason · What happens: give, refuse · To what, where: soldier entry

This is exam question 2 of lesson 1900 «fairy tales (pg7277), The Little Soldier, part 37: John buys a golden coach, plays cards with the King, and loses his purse and cloak to Ludovine» 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	State	state	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 reason	compound
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 gave	nsubj
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 guards	det
5	guards	guard	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 gave	nsubj
6	gave	give	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	for	for	SCONJ	_	8 refusing	mark
8	refusing	refuse	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 gave	advcl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 entry	det
10	soldier	soldier	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 entry	compound
11	entry	entry	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 refusing	obj
12	to	to	ADP	_	14 palace	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 palace	det
14	palace	palace	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 entry	nmod
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	6 gave	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	past	the State reason						vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient
2	refuse	gerund	the State reason not said here	the soldier entry				to the palace	vn reject-77.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent entry=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

They had strict orders from the King to admit no stranger in rags, and so they refused to let him pass the gate

The tree, 23 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 had	nsubj
2	had	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	strict	strict	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 orders	amod
4	orders	order	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 had	obj
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 King	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 King	det
7	King	King	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 had	obl
8	to	to	PART	_	9 admit	mark
9	admit	admit	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 had	advcl
10	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	11 stranger	det
11	stranger	stranger	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 admit	obj
12	in	in	ADP	_	13 rags	case
13	rags	rag	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 admit	obl
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 refused	punct
15	and	and	CCONJ	_	18 refused	cc
16	so	so	ADV	_	18 refused	advmod
17	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	18 refused	nsubj
18	refused	refuse	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 had	conj
19	to	to	PART	_	20 let	mark
20	let	let	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	18 refused	xcomp
21	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	20 let	obj
22	pass	pass	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	20 let	xcomp
23	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	24 gate	det
24	gate	gate	NOUN	Number=Sing	22 pass	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	have	past	They	strict orders		from the King	vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent order=Patient
2	admit speech: other	to-infinitive	They not said here	no stranger	rags		vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent stranger=Theme in rag=Location
3	refuse	past	orders = order				vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
4	not let	to-infinitive	orders = order not said here	King			tree rules
5	pass	infinitive	King not said here	the gate			vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme gate=Trajectory

Option 2

They suspected him of lying, and so would not admit him

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 suspected	nsubj
2	suspected	suspect	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 suspected	obj
4	of	of	SCONJ	_	5 lying	mark
5	lying	lie	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 suspected	advcl
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 admit	punct
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 admit	cc
8	so	so	ADV	_	11 admit	advmod
9	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	11 admit	aux
10	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	11 admit	advmod
11	admit	admit	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 suspected	conj
12	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 admit	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	suspect	past	They	him = he	vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent he=Attribute
2	lie	gerund	They not said here		vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	not admit speech: other	would	They not said here	him = he	vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme

Option 3

They judged him to be a thief, and so barred the gate

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 judged	nsubj
2	judged	judge	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 judged	obj
4	to	to	PART	_	7 thief	mark
5	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	7 thief	cop
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 thief	det
7	thief	thief	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 judged	xcomp
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 barred	punct
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 barred	cc
10	so	so	ADV	_	11 barred	advmod
11	barred	bar	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 judged	conj
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 gate	det
13	gate	gate	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 barred	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	judge	past	They	him = he	vn estimate-34.2-1-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Agent he=Value
2	is a	to-infinitive	They not said here	a thief	tree rules
3	bar	past	They not said here	the gate	vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer gate=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

They believed him to be mad, and so refused to let him pass

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 believed	nsubj
2	believed	believe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 believed	obj
4	to	to	PART	_	6 mad	mark
5	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 mad	cop
6	mad	mad	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 believed	xcomp
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 refused	punct
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 refused	cc
9	so	so	ADV	_	10 refused	advmod
10	refused	refuse	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 believed	conj
11	to	to	PART	_	12 let	mark
12	let	let	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 refused	xcomp
13	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 let	obj
14	pass	pass	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 let	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	believe	past	They	him = he		vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus
2	is	to-infinitive	They not said here		mad property	tree rules
3	refuse	past	They not said here			vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
4	not let	to-infinitive	They not said here	him = he		tree rules
5	pass	infinitive	him = he not said here			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=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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