Exam question 2 · Celtic Fairy Tales, Conall Yellowclaw, part 8: a theft fro…

By what means did the king establish that an intruder had entered the stable?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · What happens: mean, do, establish, enter · To what, where: king, intruder · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 2 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	By	by	SCONJ	_	3 means	mark
2	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	3 means	nsubj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 establish	advcl
4	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 means	ccomp
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 king	det
6	king	king	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 did	obj
7	establish	establish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	that	that	SCONJ	_	12 entered	mark
9	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 intruder	det
10	intruder	intruder	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 entered	nsubj:pass
11	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	12 entered	aux
12	entered	enter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 establish	advcl
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 stable	det
14	stable	stable	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 entered	obj
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 establish	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	roles by
1	mean	present		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	do	past	the king	vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent king=Eventuality
3	establish	present		vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
4	enter	past · perfect · passive	a intruder	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

By following the tracks of the men through the snow

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 following	mark
2	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 tracks	det
4	tracks	track	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 following	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 men	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 men	det
7	men	man	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 tracks	nmod
8	through	through	ADP	_	10 snow	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 snow	det
10	snow	snow	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 following	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund		the tracks of the men		the snow			vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent track=Theme through snow=Trajectory

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

By following the tracks of the men

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 following	mark
2	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 tracks	det
4	tracks	track	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 following	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 men	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 men	det
7	men	man	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 tracks	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund		the tracks of the men					vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent track=Theme

Option 3

By following the tracks of the men and the sacks left behind

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 following	mark
2	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 tracks	det
4	tracks	track	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 following	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 men	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 men	det
7	men	man	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 tracks	nmod
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 sacks	cc
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 sacks	det
10	sacks	sack	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 men	conj
11	left	leave	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 sacks	acl
12	behind	behind	ADV	_	11 left	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund		the tracks of the men and the sacks					vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent track=Theme
2	leave behind	participle		the sacks not said here				behind property	vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

By counting the hoofprints outside

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 counting	mark
2	counting	count	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 hoofprints	det
4	hoofprints	hoofprint	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 counting	obj
5	outside	outside	ADV	_	2 counting	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	count	gerund		the hoofprints				outside property	vn multiply-108 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hoofprint=Theme

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/e2/