Exam question 1 · English Fairy Tales, The Ass, the Table, and the Stick: Ja…

What method did the ass employ to release its currency when its ears were pulled?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: method · What happens: do, release, pull · To what, where: ass employ, currency, ears

This is exam question 1 of lesson 1973 «English Fairy Tales, The Ass, the Table, and the Stick: Jack gets three magic gifts, loses two, and wins his sweetheart» 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	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	3 did	obj
2	method	method	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 did	nsubj
3	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 employ	det
5	ass	ass	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 employ	compound
6	employ	employ	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 did	obj
7	to	to	PART	_	8 release	mark
8	release	release	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 employ	acl
9	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 currency	nmod:poss
10	currency	currency	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 release	obj
11	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	15 pulled	advmod
12	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 ears	nmod:poss
13	ears	ear	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 pulled	nsubj:pass
14	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	15 pulled	aux:pass
15	pulled	pull	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 release	advcl
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 did	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	do	past	method	the ass employ	tree rules
2	release	to-infinitive	method not said here	method's currency	vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Causer currency=Source
3	pull	past · passive		method's ears	vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

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 dropping coins from its tail

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 dropping	mark
2	dropping	drop	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	coins	coin	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 dropping	obj
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 tail	case
5	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 tail	nmod:poss
6	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 dropping	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	drop	gerund		coins		its tail			vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent coin=Theme from tail=Destination

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

By braying until coins fell from its mouth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 braying	mark
2	braying	bray	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 fell	advcl
3	until	until	ADP	_	4 coins	case
4	coins	coin	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 braying	obl
5	fell	fall	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	from	from	ADP	_	8 mouth	case
7	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 mouth	nmod:poss
8	mouth	mouth	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 fell	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bray	gerund					until coins		vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	fall	past				its mouth			vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from mouth=Initial_Location

Option 3

By shaking its great head until coins tumbled out

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 shaking	mark
2	shaking	shake	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 head	nmod:poss
4	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 head	amod
5	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 shaking	obj
6	until	until	ADP	_	7 coins	case
7	coins	coin	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 shaking	obl
8	tumbled	tumble	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 coins	acl
9	out	out	ADP	_	8 tumbled	compound:prt

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	shake	gerund		its great head			until coins		vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent head=Patient
2	tumble out	participle		coins not said here					vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute

Option 4

By braying loudly until coins fell from its mouth onto the ground

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 braying	mark
2	braying	bray	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 fell	advcl
3	loudly	loudly	ADV	_	2 braying	advmod
4	until	until	ADP	_	5 coins	case
5	coins	coin	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 fell	obl
6	fell	fall	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	from	from	ADP	_	9 mouth	case
8	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 mouth	nmod:poss
9	mouth	mouth	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 fell	obl
10	onto	onto	ADP	_	12 ground	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 ground	det
12	ground	ground	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 fell	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bray	gerund						loudly property	vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	fall	past				its mouth	until coins	onto the ground	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location PP.destination»: agent=Theme from mouth=Initial_Location onto ground=Destination

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/1973-pg7439-part32/e1/