Exam question 3 · Celtic Fairy Tales, Donald O'Neary: the cheats drown the w…

Which of the following best characterises the manner in which Donald O'Neary secured his cattle?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: best, Donald · What happens: follow, characteris, secure · To what, where: manner, cattle

This is exam question 3 of lesson 1992 «Celtic Fairy Tales, Donald O'Neary: the cheats drown the wrong man and chase clouds in the lake» 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	6 characterises	obj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 best	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 best	det
4	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 best	case
5	best	good	ADJ	Degree=Sup	6 characterises	nsubj
6	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 manner	det
8	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 characterises	obj
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 which	case
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 secured	obl
11	Donald	Donald	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 secured	nsubj
12	O'Neary	O'Neary	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 Donald	flat
13	secured	secure	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 manner	acl:relcl
14	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	15 cattle	nmod:poss
15	cattle	cattle	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 secured	obj
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the best	the manner		tree rules
3	secure	past	Donald	Donald's cattle	the manner	vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition cattle=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

He stole the cattle from the brothers at the lake

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 stole	nsubj
2	stole	steal	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 cattle	det
4	cattle	cattle	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 stole	obj
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 brothers	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 brothers	det
7	brothers	brother	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 stole	obl
8	at	at	ADP	_	10 lake	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 lake	det
10	lake	lake	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 stole	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	steal	past	He	the cattle		the lake		from the brothers	vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent cattle=Theme from brother=Source

Option 2

He persuaded the brothers to exchange their hides for his own place in the sack

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 persuaded	nsubj
2	persuaded	persuade	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 brothers	det
4	brothers	brother	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 persuaded	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 exchange	mark
6	exchange	exchange	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 persuaded	advcl
7	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 hides	nmod:poss
8	hides	hide	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 exchange	obj
9	for	for	ADP	_	12 place	case
10	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 place	nmod:poss
11	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 place	amod
12	place	place	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 exchange	obl
13	in	in	ADP	_	15 sack	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 sack	det
15	sack	sack	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 place	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	persuade	past	He	the brothers					vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent brother=Patient
2	exchange	to-infinitive	He not said here	brothers's hides				for his own place in the sack	vn exchange-13.6.1 «NP V NP PP.co-theme»: agent=Agent hide=Theme for place=Co-Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

He persuaded the farmer to exchange his herd for his own place in the sack

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 persuaded	nsubj
2	persuaded	persuade	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 farmer	det
4	farmer	farmer	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 persuaded	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 exchange	mark
6	exchange	exchange	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 persuaded	advcl
7	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 herd	nmod:poss
8	herd	herd	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 exchange	obj
9	for	for	ADP	_	12 place	case
10	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 place	nmod:poss
11	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 place	amod
12	place	place	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 exchange	obl
13	in	in	ADP	_	15 sack	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 sack	det
15	sack	sack	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 place	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	persuade	past	He	the farmer					vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent farmer=Patient
2	exchange	to-infinitive	He not said here	farmer's herd				for farmer's own place in the sack	vn exchange-13.6.1 «NP V NP PP.co-theme»: agent=Agent herd=Theme for place=Co-Theme

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

He convinced the farmer to swap his cattle for a place in the sack

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 convinced	nsubj
2	convinced	convince	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 farmer	det
4	farmer	farmer	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 convinced	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 swap	mark
6	swap	swap	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 convinced	ccomp
7	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 cattle	nmod:poss
8	cattle	cattle	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 swap	obj
9	for	for	ADP	_	11 place	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 place	det
11	place	place	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 swap	obl
12	in	in	ADP	_	14 sack	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 sack	det
14	sack	sack	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 place	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	convince	past	He	the farmer					vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent farmer=Patient clause=Result
2	swap	to-infinitive	He not said here	farmer's cattle				for a place in the sack	vn exchange-13.6.1 «NP V NP PP.co-theme»: agent=Agent cattle=Theme for place=Co-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/1992-pg7885-part11/e3/