Exam question 3 · Arabian Nights, Noureddin Ali and the Fair Persian: Saouy'…

What was the reason the king gave for delaying the signal of execution until the horsemen were identified?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: reason, king · What happens: be, give, delay, identify, signal · To what, where: reason, signal, horsemen, execution

This is exam question 3 of lesson 210 «Arabian Nights, Noureddin Ali and the Fair Persian: Saouy's plot nearly kills Noureddin, but the vizir arrives in time» 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	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	root	root
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	1 What	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 What	nsubj
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 king	det
6	king	king	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 gave	nsubj
7	gave	give	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl:relcl
8	for	for	SCONJ	_	9 delaying	mark
9	delaying	delay	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	7 gave	advcl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 signal	det
11	signal	signal	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 delaying	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 execution	case
13	execution	execution	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 signal	nmod
14	until	until	SCONJ	_	18 identified	mark
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 horsemen	det
16	horsemen	horseman	NOUN	Number=Plur	18 identified	nsubj:pass
17	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	18 identified	aux:pass
18	identified	identify	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 delaying	advcl
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	1 What	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	is a	past	the reason		tree rules
2	give	past	the king	the reason not said here	vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
3	delay	gerund	the king not said here	the signal of execution	vn delay-53.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent signal=Source
4	identify	past · passive		the horsemen	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: subject=Theme
5	signal			execution	nom signal «communication transitive»: of=patient

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

He needed to see the riders' faces before ordering the death of the prisoner now

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 needed	nsubj
2	needed	need	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 see	mark
4	see	see	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 needed	xcomp
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 riders	det
6	riders	rider	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 faces	nmod:poss
7	'	's	PART	_	6 riders	case
8	faces	face	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 see	obj
9	before	before	SCONJ	_	10 ordering	mark
10	ordering	order	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 see	advcl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 death	det
12	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 ordering	obj
13	of	of	ADP	_	15 prisoner	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 prisoner	det
15	prisoner	prisoner	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 death	nmod
16	now	now	ADV	PronType=Dem	10 ordering	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	need	past	He			vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme
2	see not said to happen	to-infinitive	He not said here	the riders's faces		vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer face=Stimulus
3	order	gerund	He not said here	the death of the prisoner	now	vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent death=Theme
4	die		the prisoner			nom death «event intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

He required full knowledge of the identity of the riders, who might be messengers of pardon, before he would proceed with the sentence of execution

The tree, 25 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 required	nsubj
2	required	require	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	full	full	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 knowledge	amod
4	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 required	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 identity	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 identity	det
7	identity	identity	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 knowledge	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 riders	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 riders	det
10	riders	rider	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 identity	nmod
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 messengers	punct
12	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	15 messengers	nsubj
13	might	might	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	15 messengers	aux
14	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	15 messengers	cop
15	messengers	messenger	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 riders	conj
16	of	of	ADP	_	17 pardon	case
17	pardon	pardon	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 messengers	nmod
18	,	,	PUNCT	_	22 proceed	punct
19	before	before	SCONJ	_	22 proceed	mark
20	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	22 proceed	nsubj
21	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	22 proceed	aux
22	proceed	proceed	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 required	conj
23	with	with	ADP	_	25 sentence	case
24	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	25 sentence	det
25	sentence	sentence	NOUN	Number=Sing	22 proceed	obl
26	of	of	ADP	_	27 execution	case
27	execution	execution	NOUN	Number=Sing	25 sentence	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	require	past	He	full knowledge of the identity of the riders and messengers		vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme knowledge=Precondition
2	is a	might	the riders and messengers	messengers	of pardon	tree rules
3	proceed	would	he		with the sentence of execution	vn begin-55.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent
4	sentence			execution		nom sentence «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

He wanted to be sure the riders were not sent by the Caliph before he killed anyone

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 wanted	nsubj
2	wanted	want	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	5 sure	mark
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 sure	cop
5	sure	sure	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 wanted	xcomp
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 riders	det
7	riders	rider	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 sent	nsubj:pass
8	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 sent	aux:pass
9	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	10 sent	advmod
10	sent	send	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 sure	ccomp
11	by	by	ADP	_	13 Caliph	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 Caliph	det
13	Caliph	caliph	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 sent	obl
14	before	before	SCONJ	_	16 killed	mark
15	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	16 killed	nsubj
16	killed	kill	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 sent	advcl
17	anyone	anyone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	16 killed	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	want	past	He			vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Pivot
2	is not said to happen	to-infinitive	He not said here		sure property	tree rules
3	not send	past · passive	the Caliph	the riders		vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme
4	kill	past	he	anyone		vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anyone=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

He required knowledge of the riders' identity before proceeding with the sentence

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 required	nsubj
2	required	require	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 required	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	8 identity	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 riders	det
6	riders	rider	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 identity	nmod:poss
7	'	's	PART	_	6 riders	case
8	identity	identity	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 knowledge	nmod
9	before	before	SCONJ	_	10 proceeding	mark
10	proceeding	proceed	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 required	advcl
11	with	with	ADP	_	13 sentence	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 sentence	det
13	sentence	sentence	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 proceeding	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	require	past	He	knowledge of the riders's identity					vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme knowledge=Precondition
2	proceed	gerund	He not said here					with the sentence	vn begin-55.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=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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