Exam question 3 · Tanglewood Tales, The Pygmies: the Pygmies try to finish o…

Which of the following accurately describes the reasons the sage counsellors gave for rejecting the herald's trumpet proposal?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: reasons, herald · What happens: follow, describe, give, reject, propose · To what, where: trumpet proposal

This is exam question 3 of lesson 2054 «Tanglewood Tales, The Pygmies: the Pygmies try to finish off the sleeping Hercules, but he wakes, laughs at their champion, spares them, and leaves» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 following	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 following	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 following	det
4	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	6 describes	advmod
6	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 following	advcl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 reasons	det
8	reasons	reason	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 gave	nsubj
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 counsellors	det
10	sage	sage	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 counsellors	amod
11	counsellors	counsellor	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 gave	nsubj
12	gave	give	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 describes	ccomp
13	for	for	SCONJ	_	14 rejecting	mark
14	rejecting	reject	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	12 gave	advcl
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 herald	det
16	herald	herald	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 proposal	nmod:poss
17	's	's	PART	_	16 herald	case
18	trumpet	trumpet	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 proposal	compound
19	proposal	proposal	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 rejecting	obj
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 following	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	describe	present			accurately property	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
3	give	past	the reasons			vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient
4	reject	gerund	the reasons not said here	the herald's trumpet proposal		vn reject-77.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent proposal=Theme
5	propose		the herald			nom proposal «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 · ✓ the right answer

War already existed, and the Pygmies held the privilege of surprising their enemy

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	War	war	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 existed	nsubj
2	already	already	ADV	_	3 existed	advmod
3	existed	exist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 held	punct
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 held	cc
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Pygmies	det
7	Pygmies	pygmy	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 held	nsubj
8	held	hold	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 existed	conj
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 privilege	det
10	privilege	privilege	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 held	obj
11	of	of	SCONJ	_	12 surprising	mark
12	surprising	surprise	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 privilege	acl
13	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 enemy	nmod:poss
14	enemy	enemy	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 surprising	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	exist	past	War		vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	hold	past	the Pygmies	the privilege	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent privilege=Theme
3	surprise	gerund	the privilege not said here	Pygmies's enemy	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus enemy=Experiencer

Option 2

The war had already begun, and surprise was the Pygmies' right

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 war	det
2	war	war	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 begun	nsubj
3	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 begun	aux
4	already	already	ADV	_	5 begun	advmod
5	begun	begin	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 right	punct
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 right	cc
8	surprise	surprise	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 right	nsubj
9	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	13 right	cop
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 Pygmies	det
11	Pygmies	pygmy	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 right	nmod:poss
12	'	's	PART	_	11 Pygmies	case
13	right	right	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 begun	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	begin	past · perfect	the war						vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
2	is	past	surprise					right property	tree rules

Option 3

War already existed, and the Pygmies held the privilege of surprising their enemy, which the sages thought ancient custom had long protected

The tree, 22 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	War	war	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 existed	nsubj
2	already	already	ADV	_	3 existed	advmod
3	existed	exist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 held	punct
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 held	cc
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Pygmies	det
7	Pygmies	pygmy	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 held	nsubj
8	held	hold	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 existed	conj
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 privilege	det
10	privilege	privilege	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 held	obj
11	of	of	SCONJ	_	12 surprising	mark
12	surprising	surprise	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 privilege	acl
13	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 enemy	nmod:poss
14	enemy	enemy	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 surprising	obj
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	19 thought	punct
16	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	19 thought	obj
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 sages	det
18	sages	sage	NOUN	Number=Plur	19 thought	nsubj
19	thought	think	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	14 enemy	parataxis
20	ancient	ancient	ADJ	Degree=Pos	21 custom	amod
21	custom	custom	NOUN	Number=Sing	24 protected	nsubj:pass
22	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	24 protected	aux
23	long	long	ADV	Degree=Pos	24 protected	advmod
24	protected	protect	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	19 thought	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	exist	past	War			vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	hold	past	the Pygmies	the privilege		vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent privilege=Theme
3	surprise	gerund	the privilege not said here	Pygmies's enemy		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus enemy=Experiencer
4	think speech: other	past	the sages	Pygmies's enemy		vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent which=Attribute clause=Theme
5	protect	past · perfect · passive		ancient custom	long property	vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Beneficiary

Option 4

A truce existed already, so the trumpet was unnecessary for the sages

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 truce	det
2	truce	truce	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 existed	nsubj
3	existed	exist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	already	already	ADV	_	3 existed	advmod
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 unnecessary	punct
6	so	so	ADV	_	10 unnecessary	advmod
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 trumpet	det
8	trumpet	trumpet	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 unnecessary	nsubj
9	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 unnecessary	cop
10	unnecessary	unnecessary	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 existed	conj
11	for	for	ADP	_	13 sages	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 sages	det
13	sages	sage	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 unnecessary	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exist	past	a truce						vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	is	past	the trumpet					for the sages; unnecessary property	tree rules

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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