Exam question 3 · Fairy Book, Hok Lee and the Dwarfs: angry dwarfs, one last…

State the precise manner in which Hok Lee executed his dance before the assembled dwarfs.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Hok · What happens: execute, assemble, dance · To what, where: dance, precise manner

This is exam question 3 of lesson 1914 «Fairy Book, Hok Lee and the Dwarfs: angry dwarfs, one last dance, and a cure» 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	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 manner	det
3	precise	precise	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 manner	amod
4	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 State	appos
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 executed	obl
7	Hok	Hok	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 executed	nsubj
8	Lee	Lee	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 Hok	flat
9	executed	execute	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 manner	acl:relcl
10	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 dance	nmod:poss
11	dance	dance	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 executed	obj
12	before	before	ADP	_	15 dwarfs	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 dwarfs	det
14	assembled	assemble	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	15 dwarfs	amod
15	dwarfs	dwarf	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 executed	obl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 State	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	roles by
1	execute	past	Hok	Hok's dance	the precise manner	before the assembled dwarfs	vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dance=Patient
2	assemble	participle					vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	dance		Hok				nom dance «communication transitive»: poss=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

Starting with slow steps then turning wild

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Starting	start	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 turning	csubj
2	with	with	ADP	_	4 steps	case
3	slow	slow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 steps	amod
4	steps	step	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Starting	obl
5	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	6 turning	advmod
6	turning	turn	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
7	wild	wild	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 turning	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	start	gerund						with slow steps	vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V PP.subeventuality»: agent=Eventuality with step=Subeventuality
2	turn	gerund	Starting				then	wild property	vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

Commencing slowly and accelerating progressively until he was spinning wildly before them

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Commencing	commence	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	slowly	slowly	ADV	_	1 Commencing	advmod
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	4 accelerating	cc
4	accelerating	accelerate	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	1 Commencing	conj
5	progressively	progressively	ADV	_	4 accelerating	advmod
6	until	until	SCONJ	_	9 spinning	mark
7	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 spinning	nsubj
8	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 spinning	aux
9	spinning	spin	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	1 Commencing	advcl
10	wildly	wildly	ADV	_	9 spinning	advmod
11	before	before	ADP	_	12 them	case
12	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 spinning	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	when	other	roles by
1	commence	gerund			slowly property	vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
2	accelerate	gerund			progressively property	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
3	spin	past · progressive	he	before them = they	wildly property	vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme before they=Trajectory

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Commencing slowly and accelerating progressively

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Commencing	commence	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	slowly	slowly	ADV	_	1 Commencing	advmod
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	4 accelerating	cc
4	accelerating	accelerate	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	1 Commencing	conj
5	progressively	progressively	ADV	_	4 accelerating	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	commence	gerund						slowly property	vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
2	accelerate	gerund						progressively property	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 4

Beginning gently and speeding up over time

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Beginning	begin	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	gently	gently	ADV	_	1 Beginning	advmod
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	4 speeding	cc
4	speeding	speed	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	1 Beginning	conj
5	up	up	ADP	_	4 speeding	compound:prt
6	over	over	ADP	_	7 time	case
7	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 speeding	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	begin	gerund						gently property	vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
2	speed up	gerund					time		vn run-51.3.2-2 «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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1914-pg7277-part51/e3/