Exam question 4 · Pink Fairy Book, Prince Ficklé and Fair Helena, part 1: a…

What was the nature of the instrument with which Helena was instructed to empty the pond?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: nature · What happens: be, instruct, empty · To what, where: Helena, pond

This is exam question 4 of lesson 1910 «Pink Fairy Book, Prince Ficklé and Fair Helena, part 1: a kind Fairy helps Helena sort the feathers and empty the pond, and her cruel stepmother plans something worse» 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	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	1 What	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 nature	det
4	nature	nature	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 What	nsubj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 instrument	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 instrument	det
7	instrument	instrument	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 nature	nmod
8	with	with	ADP	_	9 which	case
9	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 instructed	obl
10	Helena	Helena	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 instructed	nsubj:pass
11	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	12 instructed	aux:pass
12	instructed	instruct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 instrument	acl:relcl
13	to	to	PART	_	14 empty	mark
14	empty	empty	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 instructed	xcomp
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 pond	det
16	pond	pond	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 empty	obj
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	1 What	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is a	past	the nature of the instrument			tree rules
2	instruct speech: other	past · passive		Helena	with the instrument	vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP how S_INF»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic
3	empty	to-infinitive		the pond		vn clear-10.3-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent pond=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

It was a rusty old bucket with a hole

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 bucket	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 bucket	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 bucket	det
4	rusty	rusty	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 bucket	amod
5	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 bucket	amod
6	bucket	bucket	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	with	with	ADP	_	9 hole	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 hole	det
9	hole	hole	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 bucket	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	It	a rusty old bucket				with a hole	tree rules

Option 2

It was a basket that leaked like a sieve

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 basket	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 basket	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 basket	det
4	basket	basket	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 leaked	nsubj
6	leaked	leak	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 basket	acl:relcl
7	like	like	ADP	_	9 sieve	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 sieve	det
9	sieve	sieve	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 leaked	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	It	a basket					tree rules
2	leak	past	a basket					like a sieve	vn substance_emission-43.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Source

Option 3

The instrument was a wooden spoon that was full of holes and had been broken by the stepmother in a fit of anger that morning

The tree, 25 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 instrument	det
2	instrument	instrument	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 spoon	nsubj
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 spoon	cop
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 spoon	det
5	wooden	wooden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 spoon	amod
6	spoon	spoon	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 full	nsubj
8	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 full	cop
9	full	full	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 spoon	acl:relcl
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 holes	case
11	holes	hole	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 full	obl
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 broken	cc
13	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	15 broken	aux
14	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	15 broken	aux:pass
15	broken	break	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 full	conj
16	by	by	ADP	_	18 stepmother	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 stepmother	det
18	stepmother	stepmother	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 broken	obl
19	in	in	ADP	_	21 fit	case
20	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	21 fit	det
21	fit	fit	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 stepmother	nmod
22	of	of	ADP	_	23 anger	case
23	anger	anger	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 fit	nmod
24	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	25 morning	det
25	morning	morning	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 fit	nmod:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is a	past	the instrument	a wooden spoon		tree rules
2	is	past	a wooden spoon		of holes; full property	tree rules
3	break	past · perfect · passive	the stepmother in a fit of anger that morning			vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The instrument was a spoon that was full of holes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 instrument	det
2	instrument	instrument	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 spoon	nsubj
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 spoon	cop
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 spoon	det
5	spoon	spoon	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 full	nsubj
7	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 full	cop
8	full	full	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 spoon	acl:relcl
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 holes	case
10	holes	hole	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 full	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	the instrument	a spoon					tree rules
2	is	past	a spoon					of holes; full property	tree rules

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/1910-pg7277-part47/e4/