Exam question 1 · Tanglewood Tales, The Minotaur, part 6: Theseus sails to C…

In what manner did the old king of Athens propose that the sails be altered upon his son's safe return?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: old king, son · What happens: do, propose, alter, return · To what, where: manner, sails

This is exam question 1 of lesson 2047 «Tanglewood Tales, The Minotaur, part 6: Theseus sails to Crete and meets the brazen giant Talus» 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	In	in	ADP	_	3 manner	case
2	what	what	DET	PronType=Int	3 manner	det
3	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 did	obl
4	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 king	det
6	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 king	amod
7	king	king	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 propose	nsubj
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 Athens	case
9	Athens	athen	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 king	nmod
10	propose	propose	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 did	parataxis
11	that	that	SCONJ	_	15 altered	mark
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 sails	det
13	sails	sail	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 altered	nsubj:pass
14	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	15 altered	aux:pass
15	altered	alter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 propose	ccomp
16	upon	upon	ADP	_	21 return	case
17	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	18 son	nmod:poss
18	son	son	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 return	nmod:poss
19	's	's	PART	_	18 son	case
20	safe	safe	ADJ	Degree=Pos	21 return	amod
21	return	return	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 altered	obl
22	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 did	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	do	past			what manner		vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	propose	present	the old king of Athens				vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	alter	infinitive · passive		the sails		upon king's son's safe return	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient
4	return		king's son				nom return «communication intransitive»: 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 · ← Mova's choice

by cutting sails

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	by	by	SCONJ	_	2 cutting	mark
2	cutting	cut	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	sails	sail	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 cutting	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cut	gerund		sails					vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset sail=Product

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

by hoisting bright sails

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	by	by	SCONJ	_	2 hoisting	mark
2	hoisting	hoist	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	bright	bright	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 sails	amod
4	sails	sail	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 hoisting	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hoist	gerund		bright sails					vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sail=Theme

Option 3

by sewing new white sails

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	by	by	SCONJ	_	2 sewing	mark
2	sewing	sew	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	new	new	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 sails	amod
4	white	white	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 sails	amod
5	sails	sail	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 sewing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sew	gerund		new white sails					vn build-26.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sail=Product

Option 4

by ordering the crew to sew golden sails in place

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	by	by	SCONJ	_	2 ordering	mark
2	ordering	order	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 crew	det
4	crew	crew	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 ordering	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 sew	mark
6	sew	sew	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 ordering	advcl
7	golden	golden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 sails	amod
8	sails	sail	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 sew	obj
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 place	case
10	place	place	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 sew	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	order	gerund		the crew					vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent crew=Theme
2	sew	to-infinitive		golden sails		place			vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent sail=Theme in place=Destination

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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