Exam question 4 · Tanglewood Tales, The Pygmies, part 9: Theseus comes home…

State the consequence of Theseus's failure to change the sails of his vessel.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, Theseus · What happens: state, change, fail · To what, where: consequence, sails

This is exam question 4 of lesson 2050 «Tanglewood Tales, The Pygmies, part 9: Theseus comes home to grief, and the Giant Antaeus is introduced as friend of the Pygmies» 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	State	state	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 consequence	det
3	consequence	consequence	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 State	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 failure	case
5	Theseus	Theseus	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 failure	nmod:poss
6	's	's	PART	_	5 Theseus	case
7	failure	failure	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 consequence	nmod
8	to	to	PART	_	9 change	mark
9	change	change	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	1 State	advcl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 sails	det
11	sails	sail	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 change	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 vessel	case
13	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 vessel	nmod:poss
14	vessel	vessel	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 sails	nmod
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 State	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	state speech: other	imperative	you not said here	the consequence of Theseus's failure	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent consequence=Topic
2	change	to-infinitive	you not said here	the sails of Theseus's vessel	vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sail=Patient
3	fail		Theseus		nom failure «act 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

The ship was delayed, so his father sailed out to search for him.

The tree, 13 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 ship	det
2	ship	ship	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 delayed	nsubj
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 delayed	cop
4	delayed	delayed	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 sailed	punct
6	so	so	ADV	_	9 sailed	advmod
7	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 father	nmod:poss
8	father	father	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 sailed	nsubj
9	sailed	sail	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 delayed	parataxis
10	out	out	ADV	_	9 sailed	advmod
11	to	to	PART	_	12 search	mark
12	search	search	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 sailed	advcl
13	for	for	ADP	_	14 him	case
14	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 search	obl
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	4 delayed	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	is	past	the ship	delayed property	tree rules
2	sail out	past	his father	out property	vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent
3	search	to-infinitive	his father not said here	for father	vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.theme NP.location»: agent=Agent for he=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

His father, observing the black sails, believed him dead and cast himself from a cliff.

The tree, 15 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 father	nmod:poss
2	father	father	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 believed	nsubj
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 observing	punct
4	observing	observe	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 father	appos
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 sails	det
6	black	black	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 sails	amod
7	sails	sail	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 observing	obj
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 father	punct
9	believed	believe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 believed	obj
11	dead	dead	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 believed	xcomp
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 cast	cc
13	cast	cast	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 believed	conj
14	himself	himself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	13 cast	obj
15	from	from	ADP	_	17 cliff	case
16	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 cliff	det
17	cliff	cliff	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 cast	obl
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	9 believed	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	observe	gerund		the black sails			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent sail=Topic
2	believe	past	His father	him = he		dead property	vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus
3	cast	present	His father not said here	father	a cliff		vn build-26.1 «NP V NP.product PP.material»: agent=Agent himself=Product from cliff=Material

Option 3

The sails stayed black, so the Minotaur devoured him and his father went mad with grief.

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 sails	det
2	sails	sail	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 stayed	nsubj
3	stayed	stay	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	black	black	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 stayed	xcomp
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 devoured	punct
6	so	so	ADV	_	9 devoured	advmod
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Minotaur	det
8	Minotaur	Minotaur	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 devoured	nsubj
9	devoured	devour	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 stayed	conj
10	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 devoured	obj
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 went	cc
12	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 father	nmod:poss
13	father	father	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 went	nsubj
14	went	go	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 devoured	conj
15	mad	mad	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 went	xcomp
16	with	with	ADP	_	17 grief	case
17	grief	grief	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 mad	obl
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 stayed	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	stay	past	the sails		black property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	devour	past	the Minotaur	him = he		vn devour-39.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient
3	go	past	Minotaur's father		mad property	vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

His father, seeing the black sails, thought him killed and then threw his crown into the sea.

The tree, 17 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 father	nmod:poss
2	father	father	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 thought	nsubj
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 seeing	punct
4	seeing	see	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 father	acl
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 sails	det
6	black	black	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 sails	amod
7	sails	sail	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 seeing	obj
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 father	punct
9	thought	think	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 killed	nsubj
11	killed	kill	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 thought	ccomp
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 threw	cc
13	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	14 threw	advmod
14	threw	throw	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	11 killed	conj
15	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	16 crown	nmod:poss
16	crown	crown	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 threw	obj
17	into	into	ADP	_	19 sea	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 sea	det
19	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 threw	obl
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	9 thought	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	see	gerund	His father not said here	the black sails			vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer sail=Stimulus
2	think speech: other	past	His father				vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
3	kill	past	father				vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer
4	throw	past	father not said here	father's crown	then	into the sea result	vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Causer crown=Theme into sea=Result
5	crown		father				nom crown «communication 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.

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