Exam question 3 · Fairy Tales, The Magic Swan, part 1: Peter's swan catches…

What was the sole means by which the captive persons could be released?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: sole · What happens: be, release · To what, where: captive persons · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 3 of lesson 1902 «Fairy Tales, The Magic Swan, part 1: Peter's swan catches a crowd and the Princess laughs at last» 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	PRON	PronType=Int	5 means	obj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 means	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 sole	det
4	sole	sole	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 means	nsubj
5	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 which	case
7	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 released	obl
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 persons	det
9	captive	captive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 persons	amod
10	persons	person	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 released	nsubj:pass
11	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	13 released	aux
12	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	13 released	aux:pass
13	released	release	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 means	ccomp
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 means	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	the sole					mean property	tree rules
2	release	could · passive		the captive persons					vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: subject=Source

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 right answer

The touch of a little stick presented by the old woman

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 touch	det
2	touch	touch	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 stick	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 stick	det
5	little	little	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 stick	amod
6	stick	stick	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 touch	nmod
7	presented	present	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 stick	acl
8	by	by	ADP	_	11 woman	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 woman	det
10	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 woman	amod
11	woman	woman	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 presented	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	present	participle		a little stick not said here				by the old woman	vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	touch			a little stick					nom touch «event transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

The gift of a golden key from the mayor.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 gift	det
2	gift	gift	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 key	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 key	det
5	golden	golden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 key	amod
6	key	key	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 gift	nmod
7	from	from	ADP	_	9 mayor	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 mayor	det
9	mayor	mayor	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 key	nmod
10	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 gift	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	gift			a golden key from the mayor					nom gift «possession transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

A sword given by the old soldier at dawn.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 sword	det
2	sword	sword	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 sword	acl
4	by	by	ADP	_	7 soldier	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 soldier	det
6	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 soldier	amod
7	soldier	soldier	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 given	obl:agent
8	at	at	ADP	_	9 dawn	case
9	dawn	dawn	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 given	obl
10	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 sword	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	participle		a sword not said here			dawn		vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient

Option 4

A ring of silver offered by the Seagull.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 ring	det
2	ring	ring	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 silver	case
4	silver	silver	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 ring	nmod
5	offered	offer	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 ring	acl
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 Seagull	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Seagull	det
8	Seagull	seagull	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 offered	obl
9	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 ring	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	offer	participle		a ring of silver not said here				by the Seagull	vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: 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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1902-pg7277-part39/e3/