Exam question 4 · Grimm's Household Tales, The Fisherman and His Wife, part…

Which phrase in the passage best conveys the fisherman's reluctance and the moral unease he feels as he returns to the sea?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: phrase, moral unease, unease · What happens: convey, feel, return · To what, where: reluctance

This is exam question 4 of lesson 1937 «Grimm's Household Tales, The Fisherman and His Wife, part 1: a greedy wife keeps asking the flounder for more» 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 phrase	det
2	phrase	phrase	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 conveys	nsubj
3	in	in	ADP	_	5 passage	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 passage	det
5	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 phrase	nmod
6	best	well	ADV	Degree=Sup	5 passage	advmod
7	conveys	convey	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 fisherman	det
9	fisherman	fisherman	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 reluctance	nmod:poss
10	's	's	PART	_	9 fisherman	case
11	reluctance	reluctance	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 conveys	obj
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	17 feels	cc
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 unease	det
14	moral	moral	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 unease	amod
15	unease	unease	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 feels	nsubj
16	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	17 feels	nsubj
17	feels	feel	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 conveys	conj
18	as	as	SCONJ	_	20 returns	mark
19	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	20 returns	nsubj
20	returns	return	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	17 feels	advcl
21	to	to	ADP	_	23 sea	case
22	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	23 sea	det
23	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 returns	obl
24	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 conveys	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	convey	present	which phrase in the passage	the fisherman's reluctance		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent reluctance=Topic
2	feel	present	the moral unease			vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus
3	return	present	unease		to the sea result	vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Patient to sea=Result

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 · ✓ the right answer

"It is not right! It is not right," he thought.

Sentence 1: "It is not right!

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	"	"	PUNCT	_	5 right	punct
2	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 right	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 right	cop
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 right	advmod
5	right	right	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	!	!	PUNCT	_	5 right	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not is in a quote	present	It					right property	tree rules

Sentence 2: It is not right," he thought.

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 right	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 right	cop
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 right	advmod
4	right	right	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 thought	punct
6	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 thought	punct
7	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 thought	nsubj
8	thought	think	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 right	conj
9	.	.	PUNCT	_	4 right	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not is	present	It					right property	tree rules
2	think speech: other in a quote	past	he						vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

"Why did I ever go back to the sea and call that flounder up once more, when my wife would never be content with anything at all?" he thought.

The tree, 29 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	"	"	PUNCT	_	6 go	punct
2	Why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	6 go	advmod
3	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 go	aux
4	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	6 go	nsubj
5	ever	ever	ADV	PronType=Ind	6 go	advmod
6	go	go	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	33 thought	ccomp
7	back	back	ADV	_	6 go	advmod
8	to	to	ADP	_	10 sea	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 sea	det
10	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 go	obl
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 call	cc
12	call	call	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 go	conj
13	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	14 flounder	nsubj
14	flounder	flounder	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 call	ccomp
15	up	up	ADP	_	14 flounder	compound:prt
16	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	17 more	advmod
17	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	14 flounder	advmod
18	,	,	PUNCT	_	25 content	punct
19	when	when	SCONJ	_	25 content	mark
20	my	my	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	21 wife	nmod:poss
21	wife	wife	NOUN	Number=Sing	25 content	nsubj
22	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	25 content	aux
23	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	25 content	advmod
24	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	25 content	cop
25	content	content	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 flounder	parataxis
26	with	with	ADP	_	27 anything	case
27	anything	anything	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	25 content	obl
28	at	at	ADP	_	29 all	case
29	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	27 anything	nmod
30	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 go	punct
31	"	"	PUNCT	_	6 go	punct
32	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	33 thought	nsubj
33	thought	think	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
34	.	.	PUNCT	_	33 thought	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	when	other	roles by
1	go back in a quote	past · do-support	I	ever	to the sea result	vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Patient to sea=Result
2	call speech: ask in a quote	infinitive	I not said here			vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	flounder up in a quote	present	that			tree rules
4	not is in a quote	would	my wife		with anything; content property	tree rules
5	think speech: other	past	he			vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme

Option 3

"Nothing good can come of this," he thought.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	"	"	PUNCT	_	5 come	punct
2	Nothing	nothing	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	5 come	nsubj
3	good	good	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 Nothing	amod
4	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 come	aux
5	come	come	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 this	case
7	this	this	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	5 come	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 thought	punct
9	"	"	PUNCT	_	11 thought	punct
10	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 thought	nsubj
11	thought	think	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 come	conj
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	5 come	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	come in a quote	can	Nothing					of this	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme of this=Initial_Location
2	think speech: other	past	he						vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4

"I wish I had never seen it," he sighed.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 wish	punct
2	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	3 wish	nsubj
3	wish	wish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	7 seen	nsubj
5	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 seen	aux
6	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	7 seen	advmod
7	seen	see	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	3 wish	ccomp
8	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 seen	obj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 sighed	punct
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	12 sighed	punct
11	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 sighed	nsubj
12	sighed	sigh	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 seen	conj
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 wish	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	wish in a quote	present	I		vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme
2	not see in a quote	past · perfect	I	it	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus
3	sigh	past	he		vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent

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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