Exam question 4 · Olive Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 1: Simon buys a mule…

What, according to the passage, was the role of Nina in the events described?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: accord, be, describe · To what, where: role, events

This is exam question 4 of lesson 1906 «Olive Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 1: Simon buys a mule that three rogues swear is a donkey» 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	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 role	punct
3	according	accord	VERB	ExtPos=ADP Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 passage	case
4	to	to	ADP	_	3 according	fixed
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 passage	det
6	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 role	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 passage	punct
8	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 role	cop
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 role	det
10	role	role	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 What	appos
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 Nina	case
12	Nina	Nina	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 role	nmod
13	in	in	ADP	_	15 events	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 events	det
15	events	event	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 role	nmod
16	described	describe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	15 events	acl
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	1 What	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	accord	gerund				vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent
2	is a	past	the role	the events	accord the passage; of Nina	tree rules
3	describe	participle	the events not said here			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=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

She cooked the meal

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 cooked	nsubj
2	cooked	cook	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 meal	det
4	meal	meal	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 cooked	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cook	past	She	the meal					vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent meal=Patient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

She advised Simon and prepared the meal in accordance with his instructions

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 advised	nsubj
2	advised	advise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	Simon	Simon	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 advised	obj
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 prepared	cc
5	prepared	prepare	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 advised	conj
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 meal	det
7	meal	meal	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 prepared	obj
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 accordance	case
9	accordance	accordance	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 prepared	obl
10	with	with	ADP	_	12 instructions	case
11	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 instructions	nmod:poss
12	instructions	instruction	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 prepared	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	other	roles by
1	advise speech: other	past	She		Simon			vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent simon=Recipient
2	prepare	past	She not said here	the meal		accordance	with Simon's instructions	vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent meal=Patient with instruction=Instrument
3	instruct		Simon					nom instruction «communication transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

She travelled with Simon and helped him haggle at the market stalls

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 travelled	nsubj
2	travelled	travel	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	with	with	ADP	_	4 Simon	case
4	Simon	Simon	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 travelled	obl
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 helped	cc
6	helped	help	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 travelled	conj
7	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 helped	obj
8	haggle	haggle	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 helped	xcomp
9	at	at	ADP	_	12 stalls	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 stalls	det
11	market	market	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 stalls	compound
12	stalls	stall	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 haggle	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	travel	past	She			with Simon	vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	help	past	She not said here	Simon			vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary clause=Theme
3	haggle	infinitive	Simon not said here		the market stalls		vn correspond-36.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4

She argued with Simon and was then sent to the market for the goats

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 argued	nsubj
2	argued	argue	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	with	with	ADP	_	4 Simon	case
4	Simon	Simon	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 argued	obl
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 sent	cc
6	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 sent	aux:pass
7	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	8 sent	advmod
8	sent	send	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 argued	conj
9	to	to	ADP	_	11 market	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 market	det
11	market	market	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 sent	obl
12	for	for	ADP	_	14 goats	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 goats	det
14	goats	goat	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 sent	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	argue speech: disagree	past	She					with Simon	vn chit_chat-37.6-1 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with simon=Co-Agent
2	send	past · passive	She not said here			the market	then	for the goats	vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: to market=Destination

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/1906-pg7277-part43/e4/