Exam question 1 · Celtic Fairy Tales, The Lank Grey Beggarman: tricks, hangi…

Which tale character, when the doorkeeper reports to the king, is described as having a green wand of holly?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: doorkeeper · What happens: report, describe, have · To what, where: tale character, green wand

This is exam question 1 of lesson 2006 «Celtic Fairy Tales, The Lank Grey Beggarman: tricks, hangings and a returned wife» 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	DET	PronType=Int	2 tale	det
2	tale	tale	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 character	compound
3	character	character	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 described	nsubj:pass
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 reports	punct
5	when	when	SCONJ	_	8 reports	mark
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 doorkeeper	det
7	doorkeeper	doorkeeper	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 reports	nsubj
8	reports	report	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 character	acl:relcl
9	to	to	ADP	_	11 king	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 king	det
11	king	king	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 reports	obl
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 character	punct
13	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 described	aux:pass
14	described	describe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
15	as	as	SCONJ	_	16 having	mark
16	having	have	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	14 described	advcl
17	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	19 wand	det
18	green	green	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 wand	amod
19	wand	wand	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 having	obj
20	of	of	ADP	_	21 holly	case
21	holly	holly	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 wand	nmod
22	?	?	PUNCT	_	14 described	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	report	present	the doorkeeper		to the king	vn subordinate-95.2.1 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to king=Co-Agent
2	describe	present · passive		tale character		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: subject=Theme
3	have	gerund		a green wand of holly		vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wand=Patient

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 steward who guards the gate of O'Donnell's hall and sends word

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 steward	det
2	steward	steward	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 sends	nsubj
3	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 guards	nsubj
4	guards	guard	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 steward	acl:relcl
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 gate	det
6	gate	gate	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 guards	obj
7	of	of	ADP	_	10 hall	case
8	O'Donnell	O'Donnell	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 hall	nmod:poss
9	's	's	PART	_	8 O'Donnell	case
10	hall	hall	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 gate	nmod
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	4 guards	cc
12	sends	send	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
13	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 sends	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	guard	present	the steward	the gate of O'Donnell's hall					vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent gate=Beneficiary
2	send	present	the steward	word					vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

The lank grey beggarman, who presents himself at O'Donnell's hall with a three-stringed harp and a cloak of rags

The tree, 21 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 beggarman	det
2	lank	lank	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 beggarman	amod
3	grey	grey	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 beggarman	amod
4	beggarman	beggarman	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 presents	punct
6	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 presents	nsubj
7	presents	present	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 beggarman	acl:relcl
8	himself	himself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	7 presents	obj
9	at	at	ADP	_	12 hall	case
10	O'Donnell	O'Donnell	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 hall	nmod:poss
11	's	's	PART	_	10 O'Donnell	case
12	hall	hall	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 presents	obl
13	with	with	ADP	_	18 harp	case
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	18 harp	det
15	three	three	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	17 stringed	nummod
16	-	-	PUNCT	_	15 three	punct
17	stringed	stringed	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 harp	amod
18	harp	harp	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 presents	obl
19	and	and	CCONJ	_	21 cloak	cc
20	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	21 cloak	det
21	cloak	cloak	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 harp	conj
22	of	of	ADP	_	23 rags	case
23	rags	rag	NOUN	Number=Plur	21 cloak	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	present	present	the lank grey beggarman	himself = he		O'Donnell's hall		with a stringed harp and a cloak of rags	vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP.theme»: agent=Agent himself=Recipient with harp=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The lank grey beggarman, who presents himself at O'Donnell's hall

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 beggarman	det
2	lank	lank	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 beggarman	amod
3	grey	grey	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 beggarman	amod
4	beggarman	beggarman	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 presents	punct
6	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 presents	nsubj
7	presents	present	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 beggarman	acl:relcl
8	himself	himself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	7 presents	obj
9	at	at	ADP	_	12 hall	case
10	O'Donnell	O'Donnell	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 hall	nmod:poss
11	's	's	PART	_	10 O'Donnell	case
12	hall	hall	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 presents	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	present	present	the lank grey beggarman	himself = he		O'Donnell's hall			vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Theme

Option 4

The hound that chases the hare up the silk thread at O'Donnell's feast

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 hound	det
2	hound	hound	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 chases	nsubj
4	chases	chase	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 hound	acl:relcl
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 hare	det
6	hare	hare	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 chases	obj
7	up	up	ADP	_	10 thread	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 thread	det
9	silk	silk	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 thread	compound
10	thread	thread	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 chases	obl
11	at	at	ADP	_	14 feast	case
12	O'Donnell	O'Donnell	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 feast	nmod:poss
13	's	's	PART	_	12 O'Donnell	case
14	feast	feast	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 chases	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	chase	present	the hound	the hare		O'Donnell's feast		up the silk thread	vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent hare=Theme up thread=Trajectory

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/2006-pg7885-part25/e1/