Exam question 3 · Fairy Tales, The Three Snake-Leaves, part 64: a tailor fre…

By what means did the lady's sibling accomplish the slaying of the magician?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: sibling · What happens: mean, do, accomplish, slay · To what, where: slaying, magician

This is exam question 3 of lesson 1927 «Fairy Tales, The Three Snake-Leaves, part 64: a tailor frees his bride's castle, then a young king is trapped in a royal vault» 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	By	by	ADP	_	2 what	case
2	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	4 did	obj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 what	acl:relcl
4	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 lady	det
6	lady	lady	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 sibling	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 lady	case
8	sibling	sibling	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 accomplish	nsubj
9	accomplish	accomplish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 did	parataxis
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 slaying	det
11	slaying	slaying	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 accomplish	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 magician	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 magician	det
14	magician	magician	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 slaying	nmod
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 did	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	mean	present			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
2	do	past			vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality
3	accomplish	present	the lady's sibling	the slaying of the magician	vn complete-55.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent slaying=Eventuality
4	slay			the magician	nom slaying «act transitive»: of=patient

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

By striking him with an axe.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 striking	mark
2	striking	strike	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 striking	obj
4	with	with	ADP	_	6 axe	case
5	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 axe	det
6	axe	axe	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 striking	obl
7	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 striking	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	strike	gerund		him = he				with a axe	vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent he=Patient with axe=Instrument

Option 2

With a sword.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	With	with	ADP	_	3 sword	case
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 sword	det
3	sword	sword	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 sword	punct

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

By killing him in the form of a bull.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 killing	mark
2	killing	kill	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 killing	obj
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 form	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 form	det
6	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 killing	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 bull	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 bull	det
9	bull	bull	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 form	nmod
10	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 killing	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	kill	gerund		him = he		the form of a bull			vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme
2	form			a bull					nom form «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

By drowning him in the lake.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 drowning	mark
2	drowning	drown	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 drowning	obj
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 lake	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 lake	det
6	lake	lake	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 drowning	obl
7	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 drowning	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	drown	gerund		him = he		the lake			vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient

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/1927-pg7277-part64/e3/