Exam question 1 · Irish Fairy Tales, The Horned Women: a night of witches an…

What became of the sieve the mistress used to carry the water?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: mistress · What happens: become, use, carry · To what, where: sieve, water

This is exam question 1 of lesson 1988 «Irish Fairy Tales, The Horned Women: a night of witches and a sieve of 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	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	2 became	nsubj
2	became	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 sieve	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 sieve	det
5	sieve	sieve	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 became	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 mistress	det
7	mistress	mistress	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 used	nsubj
8	used	use	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 sieve	acl:relcl
9	to	to	PART	_	10 carry	mark
10	carry	carry	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 used	xcomp
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 water	det
12	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 carry	obj
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	2 became	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	become	past			of the sieve	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient
2	use	past	the mistress	the sieve not said here		vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent sieve=Theme clause=Eventuality
3	carry	to-infinitive	the mistress not said here	the water		vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=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 · ✓ the right answer

It was sealed with yellow clay and moss so that it would hold

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 sealed	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 sealed	aux:pass
3	sealed	seal	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	with	with	ADP	_	6 clay	case
5	yellow	yellow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 clay	amod
6	clay	clay	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 sealed	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 moss	cc
8	moss	moss	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 clay	conj
9	so	so	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	13 hold	mark
10	that	that	SCONJ	_	9 so	fixed
11	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 hold	nsubj
12	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	13 hold	aux
13	hold	hold	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 sealed	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	seal	past · passive		It				with yellow clay and moss	vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP PP.co-patient PP.instrument»: subject=Patient with clay=Instrument
2	hold	would	moss						vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

It was sealed with yellow clay and moss and rushes so that it would hold the water all the way home

The tree, 21 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 sealed	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 sealed	aux:pass
3	sealed	seal	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	with	with	ADP	_	6 clay	case
5	yellow	yellow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 clay	amod
6	clay	clay	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 sealed	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 moss	cc
8	moss	moss	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 clay	conj
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 rushes	cc
10	rushes	rush	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 sealed	conj
11	so	so	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	15 hold	mark
12	that	that	SCONJ	_	11 so	fixed
13	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 hold	nsubj
14	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	15 hold	aux
15	hold	hold	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 rushes	advcl
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 water	det
17	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 hold	obj
18	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	20 way	det:predet
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 way	det
20	way	way	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 hold	obl:unmarked
21	home	home	ADV	_	20 way	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	seal	past · passive		It	with yellow clay and moss	vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP PP.co-patient PP.instrument»: subject=Patient with clay=Instrument
2	rush	present				vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	hold	would	moss	the water	all way obl:unmarked	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Theme

Option 3

It was plastered with mud so it held the water well

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 plastered	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 plastered	aux:pass
3	plastered	plaster	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	with	with	ADP	_	5 mud	case
5	mud	mud	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 plastered	obl
6	so	so	ADV	_	8 held	advmod
7	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 held	nsubj
8	held	hold	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 plastered	advcl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 water	det
10	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 held	obj
11	well	well	ADV	Degree=Pos	8 held	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	plaster	past · passive		It				with mud	vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.destination PP.theme»: subject=Destination with mud=Theme
2	hold	past	mud	the water				well property	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Theme

Option 4

It was sealed with yellow clay and moss so that it would hold, and then she carried it to the house

The tree, 21 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 sealed	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 sealed	aux:pass
3	sealed	seal	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	with	with	ADP	_	6 clay	case
5	yellow	yellow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 clay	amod
6	clay	clay	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 sealed	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 moss	cc
8	moss	moss	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 clay	conj
9	so	so	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	13 hold	mark
10	that	that	SCONJ	_	9 so	fixed
11	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 hold	nsubj
12	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	13 hold	aux
13	hold	hold	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 sealed	advcl
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 carried	punct
15	and	and	CCONJ	_	18 carried	cc
16	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	18 carried	advmod
17	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	18 carried	nsubj
18	carried	carry	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 sealed	conj
19	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	18 carried	obj
20	to	to	ADP	_	22 house	case
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 house	det
22	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 carried	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	seal	past · passive		It			with yellow clay and moss	vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP PP.co-patient PP.instrument»: subject=Patient with clay=Instrument
2	hold	would	moss					vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	carry	past	she	moss	the house	then		vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme to house=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/1988-pg7885-part7/e1/