Exam question 4 · The Happy Prince, The Remarkable Rocket: a boastful rocket…

How does the narrator's account of the Rocket's final moments convey the irony of his boasting?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: final moments, narrator · What happens: do, convey, account · To what, where: account, irony

This is exam question 4 of lesson 2041 «The Happy Prince, The Remarkable Rocket: a boastful rocket chats with a duck, then is burnt on a fire and falls on a goose» 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	How	how	ADV	PronType=Int	2 does	advmod
2	does	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 narrator	det
4	narrator	narrator	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 account	nmod:poss
5	's	's	PART	_	4 narrator	case
6	account	account	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 does	obj
7	of	of	SCONJ	_	13 convey	mark
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 Rocket	det
9	Rocket	rocket	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 moments	nmod:poss
10	's	's	PART	_	9 Rocket	case
11	final	final	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 moments	amod
12	moments	moment	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 convey	nsubj
13	convey	convey	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 account	acl
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 irony	det
15	irony	irony	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 convey	obj
16	of	of	ADP	_	18 boasting	case
17	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	18 boasting	nmod:poss
18	boasting	boasting	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 irony	nmod
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	2 does	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	do	present		the narrator's account	vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent account=Eventuality
2	convey	present	the Rocket's final moments	the irony of his boasting	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent irony=Topic
3	account		the narrator		nom account «communication transitive»: poss=agent

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

By setting his boasts against his unremarked end

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 setting	mark
2	setting	set	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 boasts	nmod:poss
4	boasts	boast	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 setting	obj
5	against	against	ADP	_	8 end	case
6	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 end	nmod:poss
7	unremarked	unremarked	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 end	amod
8	end	end	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 setting	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	set	gerund		his boasts			against his unremarked end		vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent boast=Theme against end=Destination
2	boast		his = he						nom boast «communication intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

By contrasting his claimed glory with his unnoticed end, which the narrator describes in mocking detail throughout

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 contrasting	mark
2	contrasting	contrast	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 glory	nmod:poss
4	claimed	claim	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 glory	amod
5	glory	glory	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 contrasting	obj
6	with	with	ADP	_	9 end	case
7	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 end	nmod:poss
8	unnoticed	unnoticed	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 end	amod
9	end	end	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 contrasting	obl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 describes	punct
11	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	14 describes	obj
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 narrator	det
13	narrator	narrator	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 describes	nsubj
14	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 end	acl:relcl
15	in	in	SCONJ	_	16 mocking	mark
16	mocking	mock	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	14 describes	advcl
17	detail	detail	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 mocking	obj
18	throughout	throughout	PUNCT	_	2 contrasting	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	contrast	gerund		his claimed glory	with his unnoticed end	vn amalgamate-22.2-2-1 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent glory=Patient with end=Co-Patient
2	claim speech: other	participle				vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
3	describe	present	the narrator	his unnoticed end		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent which=Theme
4	mock	gerund	the narrator not said here	detail		vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent detail=Theme
5	glory		his = he			nom glory «state intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

By contrasting his claimed glory with his unnoticed end

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 contrasting	mark
2	contrasting	contrast	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 glory	nmod:poss
4	claimed	claim	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 glory	amod
5	glory	glory	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 contrasting	obj
6	with	with	ADP	_	9 end	case
7	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 end	nmod:poss
8	unnoticed	unnoticed	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 end	amod
9	end	end	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 contrasting	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	contrast	gerund		his claimed glory	with his unnoticed end	vn amalgamate-22.2-2-1 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent glory=Patient with end=Co-Patient
2	claim speech: other	participle				vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
3	glory		his = he			nom glory «state intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

By contrasting his claimed glory with his unnoticed end and the goose's ridiculous panic at the water's edge

The tree, 20 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 contrasting	mark
2	contrasting	contrast	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 glory	nmod:poss
4	claimed	claim	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 glory	amod
5	glory	glory	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 contrasting	obj
6	with	with	ADP	_	9 end	case
7	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 end	nmod:poss
8	unnoticed	unnoticed	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 end	amod
9	end	end	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 contrasting	obl
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 panic	cc
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 goose	det
12	goose	goose	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 panic	nmod:poss
13	's	's	PART	_	12 goose	case
14	ridiculous	ridiculous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 panic	amod
15	panic	panic	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 end	conj
16	at	at	ADP	_	20 edge	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 water	det
18	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 edge	nmod:poss
19	's	's	PART	_	18 water	case
20	edge	edge	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 contrasting	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	roles by
1	contrast	gerund		his claimed glory	the water's edge	with his unnoticed end and the goose's ridiculous panic	vn amalgamate-22.2-2-1 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent glory=Patient with end=Co-Patient
2	claim speech: other	participle					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
3	glory		his = he				nom glory «state intransitive»: poss=agent
4	panic		the goose				nom panic «feeling 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/2041-pg902-part11/e4/