Exam question 2 · Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Three Musicians, part 76: the flu…

By what means did the flute-player compel the dwarf to fulfil his promise?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: flute player, player · What happens: mean, compel, fulfil, promise · To what, where: dwarf, promise

This is exam question 2 of lesson 1939 «Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Three Musicians, part 76: the flute-player seizes the dwarf's beard and is led over a river into a golden land» 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=Rel	9 compel	obl
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 what	acl:relcl
4	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 compel	aux
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 player	det
6	flute	flute	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 player	compound
7	-	-	PUNCT	_	6 flute	punct
8	player	player	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 compel	nsubj
9	compel	compel	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 dwarf	det
11	dwarf	dwarf	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 compel	obj
12	to	to	PART	_	13 fulfil	mark
13	fulfil	fulfil	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 compel	advcl
14	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	15 promise	nmod:poss
15	promise	promise	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 fulfil	obj
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	9 compel	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	mean	present			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
2	compel	past · do-support	the flute player	the dwarf	vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dwarf=Patient
3	fulfil	to-infinitive	the flute player not said here	player's promise	tree rules
4	promise		player		nom promise «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 · ← Mova's choice

By holding the dwarf's beard tightly and singing a loud spell until the dwarf gave in and promised everything

The tree, 20 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 holding	mark
2	holding	hold	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 dwarf	det
4	dwarf	dwarf	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 beard	nmod:poss
5	's	's	PART	_	4 dwarf	case
6	beard	beard	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 holding	obj
7	tightly	tightly	ADV	_	2 holding	advmod
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 singing	cc
9	singing	sing	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 holding	conj
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 spell	det
11	loud	loud	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 spell	amod
12	spell	spell	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 singing	obj
13	until	until	SCONJ	_	16 gave	mark
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 dwarf	det
15	dwarf	dwarf	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 gave	nsubj
16	gave	give	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 singing	advcl
17	in	in	ADP	_	16 gave	compound:prt
18	and	and	CCONJ	_	19 promised	cc
19	promised	promise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	16 gave	conj
20	everything	everything	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Tot	19 promised	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	hold	gerund		the dwarf's beard	tightly property	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent beard=Theme
2	sing speech: express	gerund		a loud spell		vn sound_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location spell=Theme
3	give in	past	the dwarf			vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
4	promise speech: promise	past	the dwarf not said here	everything		vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent everything=Theme

Option 2

By threatening to cut off the dwarf's beard with a knife

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 threatening	mark
2	threatening	threaten	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 cut	mark
4	cut	cut	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 threatening	xcomp
5	off	off	ADP	_	4 cut	compound:prt
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 dwarf	det
7	dwarf	dwarf	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 beard	nmod:poss
8	's	's	PART	_	7 dwarf	case
9	beard	beard	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 cut	obj
10	with	with	ADP	_	12 knife	case
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 knife	det
12	knife	knife	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 cut	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	threaten	gerund							tree rules
2	cut off not said to happen	to-infinitive		the dwarf's beard				with a knife	vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector beard=Eventuality

Option 3

By offering the dwarf a golden coin and a warm meal

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 offering	mark
2	offering	offer	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 dwarf	det
4	dwarf	dwarf	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 offering	obj
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 coin	det
6	golden	golden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 coin	amod
7	coin	coin	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 offering	obj
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 meal	cc
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 meal	det
10	warm	warm	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 meal	amod
11	meal	meal	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 coin	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	offer	gerund		a golden coin and a warm meal	the dwarf				vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.goal NP»: agent=Agent dwarf=Goal coin=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

By retaining the dwarf's beard until the promise was honoured

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 retaining	mark
2	retaining	retain	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 dwarf	det
4	dwarf	dwarf	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 beard	nmod:poss
5	's	's	PART	_	4 dwarf	case
6	beard	beard	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 retaining	obj
7	until	until	SCONJ	_	11 honoured	mark
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 promise	det
9	promise	promise	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 honoured	nsubj:pass
10	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	11 honoured	aux:pass
11	honoured	honour	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 retaining	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	retain	gerund		the dwarf's beard					tree rules
2	honour	past · passive		the promise					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.

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