Exam question 4 · English Fairy Tales, The Fish and the Ring: a baron tries…

Which of the following correctly describes the sequence in which the magpie instructed the birds to construct their nests?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: magpie · What happens: follow, describe, instruct, construct · To what, where: sequence, birds, nests

This is exam question 4 of lesson 1971 «English Fairy Tales, The Fish and the Ring: a baron tries to drown the girl he has fated for his son, and a ring saves her» 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	4 following	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 following	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 following	det
4	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	correctly	correctly	ADV	_	6 describes	advmod
6	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 following	advcl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 sequence	det
8	sequence	sequence	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 describes	obj
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 which	case
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 instructed	obl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 magpie	det
12	magpie	magpie	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 instructed	nsubj
13	instructed	instruct	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 sequence	acl:relcl
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 birds	det
15	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 instructed	obj
16	to	to	PART	_	17 construct	mark
17	construct	construct	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	13 instructed	xcomp
18	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	19 nests	nmod:poss
19	nests	nest	NOUN	Number=Plur	17 construct	obj
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 following	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund					vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	describe	present		the sequence		correctly property	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent sequence=Theme
3	instruct speech: other	past	the magpie	the birds	the sequence		vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP how S_INF»: agent=Agent bird=Recipient clause=Topic
4	construct	to-infinitive	the magpie not said here	birds's nests			vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nest=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 · ← Mova's choice

Mud, then twigs, then a further layer of mud, then outer twigs, then feathers, then wool and grass

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Mud	mud	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 twigs	punct
3	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	4 twigs	advmod
4	twigs	twig	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Mud	conj
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 layer	punct
6	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	9 layer	advmod
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 layer	det
8	further	further	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 layer	amod
9	layer	layer	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Mud	conj
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 mud	case
11	mud	mud	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 layer	nmod
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 twigs	punct
13	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	15 twigs	advmod
14	outer	outer	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 twigs	amod
15	twigs	twig	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Mud	conj
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 feathers	punct
17	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	18 feathers	advmod
18	feathers	feather	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Mud	conj
19	,	,	PUNCT	_	21 wool	punct
20	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	21 wool	advmod
21	wool	wool	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Mud	conj
22	and	and	CCONJ	_	23 grass	cc
23	grass	grass	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Mud	conj

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

Option 2

Mud, then twigs, then a further layer of mud, then outer twigs, then feathers, then a lining of moss

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Mud	mud	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 twigs	punct
3	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	4 twigs	advmod
4	twigs	twig	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Mud	conj
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 layer	punct
6	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	9 layer	advmod
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 layer	det
8	further	further	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 layer	amod
9	layer	layer	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Mud	conj
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 mud	case
11	mud	mud	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 layer	nmod
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 twigs	punct
13	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	15 twigs	advmod
14	outer	outer	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 twigs	amod
15	twigs	twig	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Mud	conj
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 feathers	punct
17	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	18 feathers	advmod
18	feathers	feather	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Mud	conj
19	,	,	PUNCT	_	22 lining	punct
20	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	22 lining	advmod
21	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	22 lining	det
22	lining	lining	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Mud	conj
23	of	of	ADP	_	24 moss	case
24	moss	moss	NOUN	Number=Sing	22 lining	nmod

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

Option 3

Mud first, then twigs, then feathers, then more twigs and more mud

The tree, 12 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Mud	mud	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	1 Mud	advmod
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 twigs	punct
4	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	5 twigs	advmod
5	twigs	twig	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Mud	conj
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 feathers	punct
7	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	8 feathers	advmod
8	feathers	feather	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Mud	conj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 twigs	punct
10	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	12 twigs	advmod
11	more	more	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	12 twigs	amod
12	twigs	twig	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Mud	conj
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 mud	cc
14	more	more	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	15 mud	amod
15	mud	mud	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Mud	conj

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

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Mud, then twigs, then a further layer of mud, then outer twigs, then feathers

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Mud	mud	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 twigs	punct
3	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	4 twigs	advmod
4	twigs	twig	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Mud	conj
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 layer	punct
6	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	9 layer	advmod
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 layer	det
8	further	further	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 layer	amod
9	layer	layer	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Mud	conj
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 mud	case
11	mud	mud	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 layer	nmod
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 twigs	punct
13	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	15 twigs	advmod
14	outer	outer	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 twigs	amod
15	twigs	twig	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Mud	conj
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 feathers	punct
17	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	18 feathers	advmod
18	feathers	feather	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Mud	conj

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

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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