Exam question 2 · Tanglewood Tales, The Golden Fleece, part 41: Medea helps…

State the means by which Medea protected Jason from the fiery breath of the bulls.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: State, Medea · What happens: mean, protect · To what, where: Jason · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 2 of lesson 2082 «Tanglewood Tales, The Golden Fleece, part 41: Medea helps Jason tame the brazen bulls and sow the dragon's teeth» 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	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 means	nsubj
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 means	nsubj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 protected	obl
6	Medea	Medea	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 protected	nsubj
7	protected	protect	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 means	ccomp
8	Jason	Jason	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 protected	obj
9	from	from	ADP	_	12 breath	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 breath	det
11	fiery	fiery	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 breath	amod
12	breath	breath	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 protected	obl
13	of	of	ADP	_	15 bulls	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 bulls	det
15	bulls	bull	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 breath	nmod
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 means	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mean	present	State						vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	protect	past	Medea		Jason			from the fiery breath of the bulls	vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent jason=Beneficiary from breath=Theme

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

Rubbing on a scented ointment

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Rubbing	rub	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	on	on	ADP	_	5 ointment	case
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 ointment	det
4	scented	scent	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 ointment	amod
5	ointment	ointment	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Rubbing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rub	gerund				a scented ointment			vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme on ointment=Destination
2	scent	participle							vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent

Option 2

Smearing a sweet-smelling oil

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Smearing	smear	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 oil	det
3	sweet	sweet	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 smelling	compound
4	-	-	PUNCT	_	3 sweet	punct
5	smelling	smell	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 oil	amod
6	oil	oil	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Smearing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	smear	gerund		a smelling oil					vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent oil=Theme
2	smell	gerund							vn smell_emission-43.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Application of a perfumed unguent

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Application	application	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 unguent	case
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 unguent	det
4	perfumed	perfume	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 unguent	amod
5	unguent	unguent	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Application	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	perfume	participle							vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent
2	apply		a perfumed unguent						nom application «act intransitive»: of=agent

Option 4

Anointing his whole body with a fragrant ointment the night before the contest

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Anointing	anoint	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 body	nmod:poss
3	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 body	amod
4	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Anointing	obj
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 ointment	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 ointment	det
7	fragrant	fragrant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 ointment	amod
8	ointment	ointment	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Anointing	obl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 night	det
10	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Anointing	obl:unmarked
11	before	before	ADP	_	13 contest	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 contest	det
13	contest	contest	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Anointing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	anoint	gerund		his whole body			before the contest; night	with a fragrant ointment	vn fill-9.8 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent body=Destination with ointment=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/2082-pg976-part41/e2/