Exam question 1 · Celtic Fairy Tales, Conall Yellowclaw, part 8: a theft fro…
On what grounds did Conall petition the king of Lochlann for mercy?
Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: grounds · What happens: do · To what, where: Conall petition
This is exam question 1 of lesson 1989 «Celtic Fairy Tales, Conall Yellowclaw, part 8: a theft from the king's stable, then a tale of cats» 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 | On | on | ADP | _ | 2 what | case |
| 2 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 4 did | obj |
| 3 | grounds | grounds | NOUN | Number=Ptan | 4 did | nsubj |
| 4 | did | do | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | Conall | Conall | PROPN | Number=Sing | 6 petition | compound |
| 6 | petition | petition | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 did | obj |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 king | det |
| 8 | king | king | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 did | obj |
| 9 | of | of | ADP | _ | 10 Lochlann | case |
| 10 | Lochlann | Lochlann | PROPN | Number=Sing | 8 king | nmod |
| 11 | for | for | ADP | _ | 12 mercy | case |
| 12 | mercy | mercy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 did | obl |
| 13 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 4 did | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | do | past | grounds | Conall petition | for mercy | tree rules |
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
On the grounds that his sons faced execution and his land was lost
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | On | on | ADP | _ | 3 grounds | case |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 grounds | det |
| 3 | grounds | grounds | NOUN | Number=Ptan | root | root |
| 4 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 7 faced | obj |
| 5 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 6 sons | nmod:poss |
| 6 | sons | son | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 faced | nsubj |
| 7 | faced | face | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 grounds | acl:relcl |
| 8 | execution | execution | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 faced | obj |
| 9 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 13 lost | cc |
| 10 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 11 land | nmod:poss |
| 11 | land | land | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 lost | nsubj:pass |
| 12 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 lost | aux:pass |
| 13 | lost | lose | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 7 faced | conj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | face | past | his sons | the grounds | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | lose | past · passive | his land | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |
Option 2
On the grounds that his sons were innocent
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | On | on | ADP | _ | 3 grounds | case |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 grounds | det |
| 3 | grounds | grounds | NOUN | Number=Ptan | root | root |
| 4 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 8 innocent | nsubj |
| 5 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 6 sons | nmod:poss |
| 6 | sons | son | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 innocent | nsubj |
| 7 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 innocent | cop |
| 8 | innocent | innocent | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 grounds | acl:relcl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | the grounds | innocent property | tree rules |
Option 3 · ✓ the right answer
On the grounds that his sons faced execution
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | On | on | ADP | _ | 3 grounds | case |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 grounds | det |
| 3 | grounds | grounds | NOUN | Number=Ptan | root | root |
| 4 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 8 execution | nsubj |
| 5 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 6 sons | nmod:poss |
| 6 | sons | son | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 execution | nsubj |
| 7 | faced | faced | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 execution | amod |
| 8 | execution | execution | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 grounds | acl:relcl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | execution | the grounds | tree rules |
Option 4 · ← Mova's choice
On the grounds that his sons faced execution at the king's own command
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | On | on | ADP | _ | 3 grounds | case |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 grounds | det |
| 3 | grounds | grounds | NOUN | Number=Ptan | root | root |
| 4 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 7 faced | obj |
| 5 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 6 sons | nmod:poss |
| 6 | sons | son | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 faced | nsubj |
| 7 | faced | face | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 grounds | acl:relcl |
| 8 | execution | execution | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 faced | obj |
| 9 | at | at | ADP | _ | 14 command | case |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 king | det |
| 11 | king | king | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 command | nmod:poss |
| 12 | 's | 's | PART | _ | 11 king | case |
| 13 | own | own | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 14 command | amod |
| 14 | command | command | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 faced | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | face | past | his sons | the grounds | the king's own command | tree rules | |||
| 2 | command | the king | nom command «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
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/1989-pg7885-part8/e1/