Exam question 4 · Arabian Nights, The Story of the Hunchback, part 32: a dea…

Which account of the hunchback's death did the tailor present as the true cause, and what did he claim to have happened?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: account, hunchback · What happens: do, claim, happen, account, die · To what, where: tailor present, death

This is exam question 4 of lesson 192 «Arabian Nights, The Story of the Hunchback, part 32: a dead hunchback is passed from house to house, and three innocent men nearly hang» 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	Which	which	DET	PronType=Int	2 account	det
2	account	account	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 did	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	7 death	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 hunchback	det
5	hunchback	hunchback	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 death	nmod:poss
6	's	's	PART	_	5 hunchback	case
7	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 account	nmod
8	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 present	det
10	tailor	tailor	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 present	compound
11	present	present	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 did	obj
12	as	as	ADP	_	15 cause	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 cause	det
14	true	true	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 cause	amod
15	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 did	obl
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	21 claim	punct
17	and	and	CCONJ	_	21 claim	cc
18	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	21 claim	obj
19	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	21 claim	aux
20	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	21 claim	nsubj
21	claim	claim	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 did	parataxis
22	to	to	PART	_	24 happened	mark
23	have	have	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	24 happened	aux
24	happened	happen	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	21 claim	xcomp
25	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 did	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	do	past	which account of the hunchback's death	the tailor present	as the true cause	vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent present=Eventuality
2	claim speech: other	past · do-support	account			tree rules
3	happen	to-infinitive · perfect	account not said here			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
4	account			the hunchback's death		nom account «communication transitive»: of=patient
5	die		the hunchback			nom death «event intransitive»: 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

He choked on wine poured by the merchant at dinner

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 choked	nsubj
2	choked	choke	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	on	on	ADP	_	4 wine	case
4	wine	wine	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 choked	obl
5	poured	pour	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 wine	acl
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 merchant	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 merchant	det
8	merchant	merchant	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 poured	obl
9	at	at	ADP	_	10 dinner	case
10	dinner	dinner	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 poured	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	choke	past	He			wine			vn die-42.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient
2	pour	participle		wine not said here		dinner		by the merchant	vn substance_emission-43.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Source

Option 2

He died from a sudden fever after the feast night

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 died	nsubj
2	died	die	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	6 fever	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 fever	det
5	sudden	sudden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 fever	amod
6	fever	fever	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 died	obl
7	after	after	ADP	_	10 night	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 night	det
9	feast	feast	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 night	compound
10	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 died	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	die	past	He			a sudden fever	night		vn die-42.4-1 «NP V PP.cause»: agent=Patient from fever=Causer

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

A fish bone lodged in his throat during supper at the tailor's house, and he died within minutes before anyone could help

The tree, 23 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 bone	det
2	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 bone	compound
3	bone	bone	NOUN	Number=Sing	24 help	nsubj
4	lodged	lodge	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 bone	acl
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 throat	case
6	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 throat	nmod:poss
7	throat	throat	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 lodged	obl
8	during	during	ADP	_	9 supper	case
9	supper	supper	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 lodged	obl
10	at	at	ADP	_	14 house	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 tailor	det
12	tailor	tailor	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 house	nmod:poss
13	's	's	PART	_	12 tailor	case
14	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 supper	nmod
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 died	punct
16	and	and	CCONJ	_	18 died	cc
17	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	18 died	nsubj
18	died	die	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 bone	acl:relcl
19	within	within	ADP	_	20 minutes	case
20	minutes	minute	NOUN	Number=Plur	18 died	obl
21	before	before	ADP	_	22 anyone	case
22	anyone	anyone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	18 died	obl
23	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	24 help	aux
24	help	help	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	roles by
1	lodge	participle		a fish bone not said here	bone's throat	during supper at the tailor's house	vn odge-46-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in throat=Location
2	die	past	bone	a fish bone not said here		before anyone; minute	tree rules
3	help	could	a fish bone				vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

A fish bone lodged in his throat during supper at the tailor's house

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 bone	det
2	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 bone	compound
3	bone	bone	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	lodged	lodge	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 bone	acl
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 throat	case
6	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 throat	nmod:poss
7	throat	throat	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 lodged	obl
8	during	during	ADP	_	9 supper	case
9	supper	supper	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 lodged	obl
10	at	at	ADP	_	14 house	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 tailor	det
12	tailor	tailor	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 house	nmod:poss
13	's	's	PART	_	12 tailor	case
14	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 lodged	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lodge	participle		a fish bone not said here		his throat	during supper	at the tailor's house	vn odge-46-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in throat=Location

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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