Exam question 4 · Tanglewood Tales, The Pygmies: the Pygmies try to finish o…

Which statement most accurately summarises the concluding attitude of the narrator towards the Pygmy nation and its future descendants?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: statement · What happens: summarise, conclude · To what, where: concluding attitude

This is exam question 4 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	DET	PronType=Int	2 statement	det
2	statement	statement	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 summarises	nsubj
3	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	4 accurately	advmod
4	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	5 summarises	advmod
5	summarises	summarise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 attitude	det
7	concluding	conclude	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 attitude	amod
8	attitude	attitude	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 summarises	obj
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 narrator	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 narrator	det
11	narrator	narrator	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 attitude	nmod
12	towards	towards	ADP	_	15 nation	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 nation	det
14	Pygmy	Pygmy	PROPN	Number=Sing	15 nation	compound
15	nation	nation	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 summarises	obl
16	and	and	CCONJ	_	19 descendants	cc
17	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	19 descendants	nmod:poss
18	future	future	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 descendants	amod
19	descendants	descendant	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 nation	conj
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 summarises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	summarise	present	which statement	the concluding attitude of the narrator				towards the Pygmy nation and statement's future descendants; accurately property	tree rules
2	conclude	gerund							vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality

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 narrator pities the Pygmies and fears for their future descendants

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 narrator	det
2	narrator	narrator	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 pities	nsubj
3	pities	pity	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 Pygmies	det
5	Pygmies	pygmy	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 pities	obj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 fears	cc
7	fears	fear	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 Pygmies	conj
8	for	for	ADP	_	11 descendants	case
9	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 descendants	nmod:poss
10	future	future	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 descendants	amod
11	descendants	descendant	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 pities	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pity	present	the narrator	the Pygmies and fears				for fears's future descendants	vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer pygmy=Stimulus for descendant=Attribute

Option 2

The narrator mocks the Pygmies cruelly and predicts their extinction within a few generations

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 narrator	det
2	narrator	narrator	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 mocks	nsubj
3	mocks	mock	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 Pygmies	det
5	Pygmies	Pygmy	PROPN	Number=Plur	3 mocks	obj
6	cruelly	cruelly	ADV	_	3 mocks	advmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 predicts	cc
8	predicts	predict	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 mocks	conj
9	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 extinction	nmod:poss
10	extinction	extinction	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 predicts	obj
11	within	within	ADP	_	14 generations	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 generations	det
13	few	few	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 generations	amod
14	generations	generation	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 predicts	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	mock	present	the narrator	the Pygmies		cruelly property	vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pygmy=Theme
2	predict	present	the narrator not said here	Pygmies's extinction	within a few generations		vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot extinction=Topic
3	extinguish		Pygmies = pygmy				nom extinction «state transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3

The narrator dislikes the Pygmies

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 narrator	det
2	narrator	narrator	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 dislikes	nsubj
3	dislikes	dislike	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 Pygmies	det
5	Pygmies	pygmy	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 dislikes	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	dislike	present	the narrator	the Pygmies					vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer pygmy=Stimulus

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The narrator regards the Pygmies with affectionate amusement and imagines their continuing lives in their own territory

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 narrator	det
2	narrator	narrator	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 regards	nsubj
3	regards	regard	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 Pygmies	det
5	Pygmies	pygmy	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 regards	obj
6	with	with	ADP	_	8 amusement	case
7	affectionate	affectionate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 amusement	amod
8	amusement	amusement	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 regards	obl
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 imagines	cc
10	imagines	imagine	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 regards	conj
11	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 continuing	nmod:poss
12	continuing	continuing	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 lives	nsubj
13	lives	live	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 imagines	ccomp
14	in	in	ADP	_	17 territory	case
15	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	17 territory	nmod:poss
16	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 territory	amod
17	territory	territory	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 lives	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	regard	present	the narrator	the Pygmies		with affectionate amusement	vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pygmy=Theme
2	imagine	present	the narrator not said here				vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme
3	live	present	Pygmies's continuing		Pygmies's own territory		vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in territory=Location

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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