Exam question 3 · English Fairy Tales, The Ass, the Table, and the Stick: Ja…

Which precise phrase did the protagonist utter to command the cudgel to act?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: precise phrase · What happens: do, command, act · To what, where: protagonist, cudgel · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 3 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 did	obj
2	precise	precise	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 phrase	amod
3	phrase	phrase	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 did	nsubj
4	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 protagonist	det
6	protagonist	protagonist	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 did	obj
7	utter	utter	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 protagonist	amod
8	to	to	PART	_	9 command	mark
9	command	command	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 utter	xcomp
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 cudgel	det
11	cudgel	cudgel	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 command	obj
12	to	to	PART	_	13 act	mark
13	act	act	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	11 cudgel	acl
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 did	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	do	past	precise phrase	the protagonist	tree rules
2	command	to-infinitive	precise phrase not said here	the cudgel	vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.predicate»: agent=Agent cudgel=Eventuality
3	act	to-infinitive	precise phrase not said here	the cudgel not said here	vn act-114-1-1 «NP V»: 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

"Up stick and bang him hard, and don't stop till he's down!" was the cry

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	"	"	PUNCT	_	2 Up	punct
2	Up	Up	PROPN	_	5 bang	nsubj
3	stick	stick	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 Up	fixed
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 bang	cc
5	bang	bang	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	21 cry	csubj
6	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 bang	obj
7	hard	hard	ADV	Degree=Pos	5 bang	advmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 stop	punct
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 stop	cc
10	do	do	AUX	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	12 stop	aux
11	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	12 stop	advmod
12	stop	stop	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 bang	conj
13	till	till	SCONJ	_	16 down	mark
14	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	16 down	nsubj
15	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	16 down	cop
16	down	down	ADV	_	12 stop	advcl
17	!	!	PUNCT	_	5 bang	punct
18	"	"	PUNCT	_	5 bang	punct
19	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	21 cry	cop
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 cry	det
21	cry	cry	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	bang in a quote	infinitive	Up	him = he	hard property	vn sound_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location he=Theme
2	not stop in a quote	infinitive · do-support	Up not said here			vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
3	is in a quote	present	Up		down property	tree rules
4	be speech: express	past		the cry		tree rules

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

"Up stick and bang him!" was the cry

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 stick	punct
2	Up	Up	PROPN	_	3 stick	compound
3	stick	stick	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 cry	nsubj
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 bang	cc
5	bang	bang	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 stick	conj
6	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 bang	obj
7	!	!	PUNCT	_	3 stick	punct
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 stick	punct
9	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	11 cry	cop
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 cry	det
11	cry	cry	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bang in a quote	infinitive		him = he					vn sound_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location he=Theme
2	be speech: express	past		the cry					tree rules

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

"Stick, go and beat them all!"

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	"	"	PUNCT	_	2 Stick	punct
2	Stick	stick	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 go	punct
4	go	go	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	2 Stick	conj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 beat	cc
6	beat	beat	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	2 Stick	conj
7	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 beat	obj
8	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	7 them	nmod:unmarked
9	!	!	PUNCT	_	2 Stick	punct
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	2 Stick	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	stick in a quote	imperative	you not said here		vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
2	go in a quote	infinitive	you not said here		vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	beat in a quote	infinitive	you not said here	them = they	vn sound_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location they=Theme

Option 4

"Stick, rise up and bang him, go on, bang him, bang him!" was the cry

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	"	"	PUNCT	_	2 Stick	punct
2	Stick	stick	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	22 cry	csubj
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 rise	punct
4	rise	rise	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 Stick	conj
5	up	up	ADP	_	4 rise	compound:prt
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 bang	cc
7	bang	bang	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 Stick	conj
8	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 bang	obj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 go	punct
10	go	go	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 Stick	conj
11	on	on	ADV	_	10 go	advmod
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 bang	punct
13	bang	bang	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	2 Stick	parataxis
14	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 bang	obj
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 bang	punct
16	bang	bang	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	2 Stick	parataxis
17	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	16 bang	obj
18	!	!	PUNCT	_	2 Stick	punct
19	"	"	PUNCT	_	2 Stick	punct
20	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	22 cry	cop
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 cry	det
22	cry	cry	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	roles by
1	stick in a quote	infinitive		vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
2	rise up in a quote	infinitive		vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	bang in a quote	infinitive	him = he	vn sound_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location he=Theme
4	go on in a quote	infinitive		vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
5	bang in a quote	infinitive	him = he	vn sound_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location he=Theme
6	bang in a quote	infinitive	him = he	vn sound_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location he=Theme
7	be speech: express	past	the cry	tree rules

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/e3/