Exam question 3 · Celtic Fairy Tales, The Sea-Maiden: the egg is broken and…

What office did the old soothsayer perform for the afflicted husband?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: old soothsayer · What happens: perform, afflict

This is exam question 3 of lesson 2009 «Celtic Fairy Tales, The Sea-Maiden: the egg is broken and the sea-maiden dies» 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	7 perform	obl
2	office	office	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 What	nsubj
3	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 perform	aux
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 soothsayer	det
5	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 soothsayer	amod
6	soothsayer	soothsayer	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 perform	nsubj
7	perform	perform	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
8	for	for	ADP	_	11 husband	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 husband	det
10	afflicted	afflict	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 husband	amod
11	husband	husband	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 perform	obl
12	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 perform	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	perform	past · do-support	the old soothsayer					for the afflicted husband	vn performance-26.7 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent for husband=Beneficiary
2	afflict	participle							vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer

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 · ← Mova's choice

He told the husband how to find the princess

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 told	nsubj
2	told	tell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 husband	det
4	husband	husband	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 told	iobj
5	how	how	ADV	PronType=Int	7 find	advmod
6	to	to	PART	_	7 find	mark
7	find	find	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 told	ccomp
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 princess	det
9	princess	princess	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 find	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tell speech: assert	past	He		the husband				vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent husband=Recipient clause=Topic
2	find not said to happen	to-infinitive		the princess					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent princess=Topic

Option 2

He revealed the single method of her destruction to the husband in secret

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 revealed	nsubj
2	revealed	reveal	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 method	det
4	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 method	amod
5	method	method	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 revealed	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 destruction	case
7	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 destruction	nmod:poss
8	destruction	destruction	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 method	nmod
9	to	to	ADP	_	11 husband	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 husband	det
11	husband	husband	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 revealed	obl
12	in	in	ADP	_	13 secret	case
13	secret	secret	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 revealed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reveal	past	He	the single method of her destruction	the husband	secret			vn confess-37.10 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent method=Topic to husband=Recipient
2	destroy		her = she						nom destruction «act transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3

He explained the whole plan, which was to break the egg with his foot after catching the trout

The tree, 18 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 explained	nsubj
2	explained	explain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 plan	det
4	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 plan	amod
5	plan	plan	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 explained	obj
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 break	punct
7	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 break	nsubj
8	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 break	cop
9	to	to	PART	_	10 break	mark
10	break	break	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 plan	conj
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 egg	det
12	egg	egg	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 break	obj
13	with	with	ADP	_	15 foot	case
14	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	15 foot	nmod:poss
15	foot	foot	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 break	obl
16	after	after	SCONJ	_	17 catching	mark
17	catching	catch	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	10 break	advcl
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 trout	det
19	trout	trout	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 catching	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	explain speech: assert	past	He	the whole plan		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent plan=Topic
2	is	past	the whole plan		with his foot; break property	tree rules
3	catch	gerund	the whole plan not said here	the trout		vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent trout=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

He disclosed the single method of her destruction

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 disclosed	nsubj
2	disclosed	disclose	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 method	det
4	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 method	amod
5	method	method	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 disclosed	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 destruction	case
7	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 destruction	nmod:poss
8	destruction	destruction	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 method	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	disclose	past	He	the single method of her destruction					vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot method=Topic
2	destroy		her = she						nom destruction «act 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/2009-pg7885-part28/e3/