Exam question 3 · English Fairy Tales, The Master and His Pupil: a curious l…

By what means was the demon finally dismissed from the master's chamber?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: demon · What happens: be, mean, dismiss · To what, where: chamber

This is exam question 3 of lesson 1953 «English Fairy Tales, The Master and His Pupil: a curious lad calls up a demon and nearly drowns in water» 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	root	root
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 what	acl:relcl
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 what	cop
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 demon	det
6	demon	demon	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 dismissed	nsubj
7	finally	finally	ADV	_	8 dismissed	advmod
8	dismissed	dismiss	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 what	acl:relcl
9	from	from	ADP	_	13 chamber	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 master	det
11	master	master	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 chamber	nmod:poss
12	's	's	PART	_	11 master	case
13	chamber	chamber	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 dismissed	obl
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	2 what	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	other	roles by
1	is	past				tree rules
2	mean	present				vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
3	dismiss	past	the demon	the master's chamber	finally property	vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent from chamber=Source

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 the master throwing a silver cross at the demon while shouting loudly in fear

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	4 throwing	mark
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 master	det
3	master	master	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 throwing	nsubj
4	throwing	throw	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 cross	det
6	silver	silver	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 cross	compound
7	cross	cross	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 throwing	obj
8	at	at	ADP	_	10 demon	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 demon	det
10	demon	demon	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 throwing	obl
11	while	while	SCONJ	_	12 shouting	mark
12	shouting	shout	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 throwing	advcl
13	loudly	loudly	ADV	_	12 shouting	advmod
14	in	in	ADP	_	15 fear	case
15	fear	fear	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 shouting	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	throw	gerund	the master	a silver cross				at the demon	vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent cross=Theme at demon=Destination
2	shout speech: express	gerund	the master not said here			fear		loudly property	vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

By the words spoken by the master

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	3 words	case
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 words	det
3	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	spoken	speak	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 words	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 master	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 master	det
7	master	master	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 spoken	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	speak speech: other	participle		the words not said here				by the master	vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

By a sharp blow from the master

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	4 blow	case
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 blow	det
3	sharp	sharp	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 blow	amod
4	blow	blow	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 master	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 master	det
7	master	master	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 blow	nmod

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

Option 4

By the master reading a long incantation from the black book aloud in the chamber

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	3 master	case
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 master	det
3	master	master	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	reading	read	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 master	acl
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 incantation	det
6	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 incantation	amod
7	incantation	incantation	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 reading	obj
8	from	from	ADP	_	11 book	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 book	det
10	black	black	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 book	amod
11	book	book	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 reading	obl
12	aloud	aloud	ADV	_	4 reading	advmod
13	in	in	ADP	_	15 chamber	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 chamber	det
15	chamber	chamber	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 reading	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	read	gerund	the master not said here	a long incantation		the black book		in the chamber; aloud property	vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent incantation=Topic from book=Source

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/1953-pg7439-part12/e3/