Exam question 4 · A Wonder-Book, The Minotaur, part 4: Medea's poisoned wine…

What prevented Aegeus from giving the goblet to Theseus at once?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: prevent, give · To what, where: Aegeus, goblet, Theseus

This is exam question 4 of lesson 2045 «A Wonder-Book, The Minotaur, part 4: Medea's poisoned wine nearly kills Theseus before his father recognizes him» 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 prevented	nsubj
2	prevented	prevent	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	Aegeus	Aegeus	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 prevented	obj
4	from	from	SCONJ	_	5 giving	mark
5	giving	give	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 prevented	advcl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 goblet	det
7	goblet	goblet	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 giving	obj
8	to	to	ADP	_	9 Theseus	case
9	Theseus	Theseus	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 goblet	nmod
10	at	at	ADP	_	11 once	case
11	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	5 giving	obl
12	?	?	PUNCT	_	2 prevented	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prevent	past		Aegeus					vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer aegeus=Theme
2	give	gerund		the goblet	Theseus				vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient PP.asset»: agent=Agent goblet=Theme at once=Asset to theseus=Recipient

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

His son stopped him at the door

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	His	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 son	nmod:poss
2	son	son	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 stopped	nsubj
3	stopped	stop	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 stopped	obj
5	at	at	ADP	_	7 door	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 door	det
7	door	door	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 stopped	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	stop	past	His son	him = he		the door			vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector he=Eventuality

Option 2

A sudden noise from the courtyard startled him and he paused, staring at the stranger for a long while

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 noise	det
2	sudden	sudden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 noise	amod
3	noise	noise	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 startled	nsubj
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 courtyard	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 courtyard	det
6	courtyard	courtyard	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 noise	nmod
7	startled	startle	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 startled	obj
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 paused	cc
10	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 paused	nsubj
11	paused	pause	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 startled	conj
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 staring	punct
13	staring	stare	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	11 paused	advcl
14	at	at	ADP	_	16 stranger	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 stranger	det
16	stranger	stranger	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 staring	obl
17	for	for	ADP	_	20 while	case
18	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	20 while	det
19	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 while	amod
20	while	while	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 staring	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	startle	past	a sudden noise from the courtyard	him = he			vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus he=Experiencer
2	pause	past	noise				vn linger-53.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent
3	stare	gerund	noise not said here		while	at the stranger	vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at stranger=Theme

Option 3

His conscience stirred so strongly that he hesitated and the wine splashed across the floor of the hall

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	His	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 conscience	nmod:poss
2	conscience	conscience	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 stirred	nsubj
3	stirred	stir	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	so	so	ADV	_	5 strongly	advmod
5	strongly	strongly	ADV	_	3 stirred	advmod
6	that	that	SCONJ	_	8 hesitated	mark
7	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 hesitated	nsubj
8	hesitated	hesitate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 stirred	advcl
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 splashed	cc
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 wine	det
11	wine	wine	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 splashed	nsubj
12	splashed	splash	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 hesitated	conj
13	across	across	ADP	_	15 floor	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 floor	det
15	floor	floor	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 splashed	obl
16	of	of	ADP	_	18 hall	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 hall	det
18	hall	hall	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 floor	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	other	roles by
1	stir	past	His conscience		strongly property	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer
2	hesitate	past	conscience			vn linger-53.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent
3	splash	participle	the wine	the floor of the hall		vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme across floor=Destination

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

His hand trembled and wine slopped over

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	His	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 hand	nmod:poss
2	hand	hand	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 trembled	nsubj
3	trembled	tremble	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 wine	cc
5	wine	wine	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 trembled	obj
6	slopped	slop	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 wine	acl
7	over	over	ADV	_	6 slopped	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tremble	past	His hand	wine					vn modes_of_being_with_motion-47.3 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location wine=Theme
2	slop over	participle		wine not said here				over property	vn substance_emission-43.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Source

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/2045-pg976-part4/e4/