Exam question 1 · Tanglewood Tales, The Pygmies, part 10: a Pygmy spots a hu…

With reference to the passage, which action immediately precedes the Pygmy's warning to Antaeus?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Pygmy · What happens: precede, warn · To what, where: warning

This is exam question 1 of lesson 2051 «Tanglewood Tales, The Pygmies, part 10: a Pygmy spots a huge stranger coming and wakes the sleeping giant» 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	With	with	ADP	_	2 reference	case
2	reference	reference	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 precedes	obl
3	to	to	ADP	_	5 passage	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 passage	det
5	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reference	nmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 action	punct
7	which	which	DET	PronType=Int	8 action	det
8	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 passage	conj
9	immediately	immediately	ADV	_	8 action	advmod
10	precedes	precede	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 Pygmy	det
12	Pygmy	Pygmy	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 warning	nmod:poss
13	's	's	PART	_	12 Pygmy	case
14	warning	warning	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 precedes	obj
15	to	to	ADP	_	16 Antaeus	case
16	Antaeus	Antaeus	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 warning	nmod
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	10 precedes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	precede	present		the Pygmy's warning				with reference to the passage and which action; to Antaeus	vn contiguous_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme warning=Co-Theme
2	warn		the Pygmy					to Antaeus	nom warning «communication transitive»: poss=agent to=obl

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 Pygmy departs in haste towards the distant kingdom

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Pygmy	det
2	Pygmy	Pygmy	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 departs	nsubj
3	departs	depart	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 haste	case
5	haste	haste	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 departs	obl
6	towards	towards	ADP	_	9 kingdom	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 kingdom	det
8	distant	distant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 kingdom	amod
9	kingdom	kingdom	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 departs	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	depart	present	the Pygmy			haste		towards the distant kingdom	vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme towards kingdom=Initial_Location

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The Pygmy observes the approaching figure from the giant's shoulder

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Pygmy	det
2	Pygmy	Pygmy	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 observes	nsubj
3	observes	observe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 figure	det
5	approaching	approach	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 figure	amod
6	figure	figure	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 observes	obj
7	from	from	ADP	_	11 shoulder	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 giant	det
9	giant	giant	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 shoulder	nmod:poss
10	's	's	PART	_	9 giant	case
11	shoulder	shoulder	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 observes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	observe	present	the Pygmy	the approaching figure		the giant's shoulder			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent figure=Topic
2	approach	gerund							vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

The Pygmy engages the cranes in combat upon the field

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Pygmy	det
2	Pygmy	Pygmy	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 engages	nsubj
3	engages	engage	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 cranes	det
5	cranes	crane	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 engages	obj
6	in	in	ADP	_	7 combat	case
7	combat	combat	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 engages	obl
8	upon	upon	ADP	_	10 field	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 field	det
10	field	field	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 engages	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	engage	present	the Pygmy	the cranes				in combat goal; upon the field	vn involve-107.1 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent crane=Theme in combat=Goal

Option 4

The Pygmy presents the giant with a pine-tree walking stick

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Pygmy	det
2	Pygmy	Pygmy	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 presents	nsubj
3	presents	present	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 giant	det
5	giant	giant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 presents	obj
6	with	with	ADP	_	12 stick	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 stick	det
8	pine	pine	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 tree	compound
9	-	-	PUNCT	_	8 pine	punct
10	tree	tree	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 walking	compound
11	walking	walking	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 stick	compound
12	stick	stick	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 presents	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	present	present	the Pygmy	the giant				with a walking stick	vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP.theme»: agent=Agent giant=Recipient with stick=Theme

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/2051-pg976-part10/e1/