Exam question 3 · Arabian Nights, Alnaschar, part 34: the broken glass, the…

Explain the function of the salt within the narrative, as it relates to the survival of the protagonist.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, function · What happens: explain, relate, survive · To what, where: function, protagonist

This is exam question 3 of lesson 194 «Arabian Nights, Alnaschar, part 34: the broken glass, the gold, and the trap below the house» 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	Explain	explain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 function	det
3	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Explain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 salt	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 salt	det
6	salt	salt	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 function	nmod
7	within	within	ADP	_	9 narrative	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 narrative	det
9	narrative	narrative	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Explain	obl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 relates	punct
11	as	as	SCONJ	_	13 relates	mark
12	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 relates	nsubj
13	relates	relate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Explain	parataxis
14	to	to	ADP	_	16 survival	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 survival	det
16	survival	survival	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 relates	obl
17	of	of	ADP	_	19 protagonist	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 protagonist	det
19	protagonist	protagonist	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 survival	nmod
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Explain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	explain speech: assert	imperative	you not said here	the function of the salt	within the narrative	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent function=Topic
2	relate	present	function		to the survival of the protagonist	vn relate-86.2-2 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme to survival=Co-Theme
3	survive			the protagonist		nom survival «state 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 · ← Mova's choice

The salt cured the cuts and let the old woman release him from the vault

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 salt	det
2	salt	salt	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 cured	nsubj
3	cured	cure	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 cuts	det
5	cuts	cut	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 cured	obj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 let	cc
7	let	let	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	3 cured	conj
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 woman	det
9	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 woman	amod
10	woman	woman	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 let	obj
11	release	release	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 let	xcomp
12	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 release	obj
13	from	from	ADP	_	15 vault	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 vault	det
15	vault	vault	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 release	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	cure	past	the salt	the cuts		vn free-10.6.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Causer cut=Source
2	let	infinitive	the salt not said here	the old woman		tree rules
3	release	infinitive	the old woman not said here	salt	the vault	vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Causer he=Source

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The stinging of the salt kept him conscious and so preserved his life

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 stinging	det
2	stinging	stinging	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 kept	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 salt	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 salt	det
5	salt	salt	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 stinging	nmod
6	kept	keep	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 kept	obj
8	conscious	conscious	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 kept	xcomp
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 preserved	cc
10	so	so	ADV	_	11 preserved	advmod
11	preserved	preserve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 kept	conj
12	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 life	nmod:poss
13	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 preserved	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	keep	past	the stinging of the salt	him = he	conscious property	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme
2	preserve	past	the stinging of the salt not said here	stinging's life		vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent life=Beneficiary
3	sting			the salt		nom stinging «state transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

It healed his wounds quickly

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	2 healed	nsubj
2	healed	heal	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 wounds	nmod:poss
4	wounds	wound	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 healed	obj
5	quickly	quickly	ADV	_	2 healed	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	heal	past	It	his wounds				quickly property	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent wound=Patient
2	wound		his = he						nom wound «state transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

The salt stopped the bleeding

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 salt	det
2	salt	salt	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 stopped	nsubj
3	stopped	stop	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 bleeding	det
5	bleeding	bleeding	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 stopped	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	stop	past	the salt	the bleeding					vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality bleeding=Eventuality

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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