Exam question 4 · English Fairy Tales, Whittington and His Cat: Dick gets hi…

Which of the following describes the state in which Whittington was found when summoned to the counting-house?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, describe, find, summon · To what, where: state, Whittington

This is exam question 4 of lesson 1969 «English Fairy Tales, Whittington and His Cat: Dick gets his riches, marries Alice, and a new tale begins» 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	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 describes	nsubj
2	of	of	SCONJ	_	5 describes	mark
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 describes	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 describes	nsubj
5	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 state	det
7	state	state	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 describes	obj
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 which	case
9	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 found	obl
10	Whittington	Whittington	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 found	nsubj:pass
11	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	12 found	aux:pass
12	found	find	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 state	acl:relcl
13	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	14 summoned	advmod
14	summoned	summon	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 found	advcl
15	to	to	ADP	_	19 house	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 house	det
17	counting	counting	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 house	compound
18	-	-	PUNCT	_	17 counting	punct
19	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 summoned	obl
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 describes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	describe	present	the state			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent state=Theme
3	find	past · passive	Whittington	the state		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic
4	summon	participle			to the counting house	vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=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

wearing his best coat and quite clean

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	wearing	wear	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 coat	nmod:poss
3	best	good	ADJ	Degree=Sup	4 coat	amod
4	coat	coat	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 wearing	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 clean	cc
6	quite	quite	ADV	_	7 clean	advmod
7	clean	clean	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 wearing	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	wear	gerund		his best coat					vn wipe_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent coat=Theme

Option 2

sweeping the yard, and quite cold

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	sweeping	sweep	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 yard	det
3	yard	yard	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 sweeping	obj
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 cold	punct
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 cold	cc
6	quite	quite	ADV	_	7 cold	advmod
7	cold	cold	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 sweeping	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sweep	gerund		the yard					vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme yard=Trajectory

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

scouring pots for the cook, and quite dirty

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	scouring	scour	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	pots	pot	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 scouring	obj
3	for	for	ADP	_	5 cook	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 cook	det
5	cook	cook	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 scouring	obl
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 dirty	punct
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 dirty	cc
8	quite	quite	ADV	_	9 dirty	advmod
9	dirty	dirty	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 scouring	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	scour	gerund		pots				for the cook	vn search-35.2 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent pot=Location for cook=Theme

Option 4

scouring pots for the cook, and quite dirty from the cellar and the coal-heap

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	scouring	scour	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	9 dirty	csubj
2	pots	pot	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 scouring	obj
3	for	for	ADP	_	5 cook	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 cook	det
5	cook	cook	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 scouring	obl
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 dirty	punct
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 dirty	cc
8	quite	quite	ADV	_	9 dirty	advmod
9	dirty	dirty	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
10	from	from	ADP	_	12 cellar	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 cellar	det
12	cellar	cellar	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 dirty	obl
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	17 heap	cc
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 heap	det
15	coal	coal	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 heap	compound
16	-	-	PUNCT	_	15 coal	punct
17	heap	heap	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 cellar	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	scour	gerund		pots				for the cook	vn search-35.2 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent pot=Location for cook=Theme

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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