Exam question 3 · Celtic Fairy Tales, Gruagach Gaire: the cowboy makes the g…

What did the cowboy do with the iron loops when he received them?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: cowboy · What happens: do, loop, receive · To what, where: cowboy, them

This is exam question 3 of lesson 2004 «Celtic Fairy Tales, Gruagach Gaire: the cowboy makes the giant laugh and stops a wedding» 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 did	nsubj
2	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 cowboy	det
4	cowboy	cowboy	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 did	obj
5	do	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 loops	aux
6	with	with	ADP	_	8 iron	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 iron	det
8	iron	iron	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 loops	obl
9	loops	loop	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 did	parataxis
10	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	12 received	advmod
11	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 received	nsubj
12	received	receive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 loops	advcl
13	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 received	obj
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	2 did	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	do	past		the cowboy		vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cowboy=Eventuality
2	loop	present · do-support			with the iron	vn tape-22.4 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
3	receive	past	cowboy	them = they		vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=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

threw them at Yellow Face and dragged him across the floor to the hearth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	threw	throw	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	1 threw	obj
3	at	at	ADP	_	5 Face	case
4	Yellow	yellow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 Face	amod
5	Face	face	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 threw	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 dragged	cc
7	dragged	drag	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	1 threw	conj
8	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 dragged	obj
9	across	across	ADP	_	11 floor	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 floor	det
11	floor	floor	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 dragged	obl
12	to	to	ADP	_	14 hearth	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 hearth	det
14	hearth	hearth	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 dragged	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	throw	past		them = they		Yellow Face			vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent they=Theme at face=Destination
2	drag	past		him = he		the floor		to the hearth	vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent he=Theme to hearth=Destination

Option 2

fastened them round the necks of the sons

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	fastened	fasten	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	1 fastened	obj
3	round	round	ADP	_	5 necks	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 necks	det
5	necks	neck	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 fastened	obl
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 sons	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 sons	det
8	sons	son	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 necks	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fasten	past		them = they				round the necks of the sons	vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

tied them around his own neck and wrists

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	tied	tie	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	1 tied	obj
3	around	around	ADP	_	6 neck	case
4	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 neck	nmod:poss
5	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 neck	amod
6	neck	neck	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 tied	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 wrists	cc
8	wrists	wrist	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 neck	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tie	past		them = they		his own neck and wrists			vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

placed them on the necks of the twelve daughters

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	placed	place	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	1 placed	obj
3	on	on	ADP	_	5 necks	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 necks	det
5	necks	neck	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 placed	obl
6	of	of	ADP	_	9 daughters	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 daughters	det
8	twelve	twelve	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	9 daughters	nummod
9	daughters	daughter	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 necks	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	place	past		them = they		the necks of the twelve daughters			vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme on neck=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/2004-pg7885-part23/e3/