Exam question 3 · Happy Prince, The Selfish Giant: the Giant learns to love,…

By what means did the Giant come to understand the cause of the prolonged winter in his garden?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · What happens: mean, do, come, understand, prolong, cause · To what, where: cause, prolonged winter · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 3 of lesson 2035 «Happy Prince, The Selfish Giant: the Giant learns to love, frees the children, and dies under the blossoming tree» 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	root	root
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 Giant	det
6	Giant	giant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 did	xcomp
7	come	come	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 Giant	parataxis
8	to	to	PART	_	9 understand	mark
9	understand	understand	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 come	advcl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 cause	det
11	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 understand	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	15 winter	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 winter	det
14	prolonged	prolong	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	15 winter	amod
15	winter	winter	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 cause	nmod
16	in	in	ADP	_	18 garden	case
17	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	18 garden	nmod:poss
18	garden	garden	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 winter	nmod
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 means	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	mean	present			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	do	past		giant property	vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	come	infinitive			vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
4	understand	to-infinitive	the cause of the prolonged winter in his garden		vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer cause=Stimulus
5	prolong	participle			vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent
6	cause		the prolonged winter in his garden		nom cause «event transitive»: of=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 right answer

He recognised that his own selfishness was the cause

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 recognised	nsubj
2	recognised	recognise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	9 cause	mark
4	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 selfishness	nmod:poss
5	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 selfishness	amod
6	selfishness	selfishness	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 cause	nsubj
7	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 cause	cop
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 cause	det
9	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 recognised	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	recognise	past	He						vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer
2	is a	past	his own selfishness	the cause					tree rules

Option 2

He recognised, after seeing the boy, that his own selfishness and the high wall were the cause

The tree, 17 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 recognised	nsubj
2	recognised	recognise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 seeing	punct
4	after	after	SCONJ	_	5 seeing	mark
5	seeing	see	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 recognised	advcl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 boy	det
7	boy	boy	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 seeing	obj
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	19 cause	punct
9	that	that	SCONJ	_	19 cause	mark
10	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 selfishness	nmod:poss
11	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 selfishness	amod
12	selfishness	selfishness	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 cause	nsubj
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 wall	cc
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 wall	det
15	high	high	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 wall	amod
16	wall	wall	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 selfishness	conj
17	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	19 cause	cop
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 cause	det
19	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 seeing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	recognise	past	He		vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer
2	see	gerund	He not said here	the boy	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer boy=Stimulus
3	is a	past	boy's own selfishness and the high wall	the cause	tree rules

Option 3

He learned that the North Wind had caused it all

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 learned	nsubj
2	learned	learn	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	8 caused	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Wind	det
5	North	North	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 Wind	compound
6	Wind	Wind	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 caused	nsubj
7	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 caused	aux
8	caused	cause	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	2 learned	ccomp
9	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 caused	obj
10	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	9 it	det

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	learn	past	He						vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	cause	past · perfect	the North Wind	it					vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition it=Patient

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

He was told by the children who came over the wall that the winter was caused by his selfishness

The tree, 19 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	3 told	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 told	aux:pass
3	told	tell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 children	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 children	det
6	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 told	obl
7	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 came	nsubj
8	came	come	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 children	acl:relcl
9	over	over	ADP	_	11 wall	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 wall	det
11	wall	wall	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 came	obl
12	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	16 caused	obj
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 winter	det
14	winter	winter	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 caused	nsubj:pass
15	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	16 caused	aux:pass
16	caused	cause	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 wall	acl:relcl
17	by	by	ADP	_	19 selfishness	case
18	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	19 selfishness	nmod:poss
19	selfishness	selfishness	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 caused	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	tell speech: assert	past · passive	the children	He		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent subject=Recipient
2	come	past	the children		the wall	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme over wall=Initial_Location
3	cause	past · passive	his selfishness	the winter		vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Causer subject=Theme that=Eventuality

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.

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