Exam question 2 · Arabian Nights, The Adventures of Haroun-al-Raschid, part…

In what manner did the Caliph attempt to ascertain the reason for the beggar's vow?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: beggar · What happens: do, ascertain, vow · To what, where: Caliph attempt, manner, reason

This is exam question 2 of lesson 214 «Arabian Nights, The Adventures of Haroun-al-Raschid, part 1: the Caliph is stopped by a blind beggar who begs to be struck» 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	In	in	ADP	_	3 manner	case
2	what	what	DET	PronType=Int	3 manner	det
3	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 did	obl
4	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 attempt	det
6	Caliph	Caliph	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 attempt	compound
7	attempt	attempt	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 did	obj
8	to	to	PART	_	9 ascertain	mark
9	ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 attempt	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 reason	det
11	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 ascertain	obj
12	for	for	ADP	_	16 vow	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 beggar	det
14	beggar	beggar	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 vow	nmod:poss
15	's	's	PART	_	14 beggar	case
16	vow	vow	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 reason	nmod
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 did	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	do	past		the Caliph attempt	what manner		vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent attempt=Eventuality
2	ascertain	to-infinitive		the reason		for the beggar's vow	vn ensure-99 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Precondition reason=Theme for vow=Beneficiary
3	vow		the beggar				nom vow «communication transitive»: 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

by summoning him to the palace for questioning

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	by	by	SCONJ	_	2 summoning	mark
2	summoning	summon	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 summoning	obj
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 palace	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 palace	det
6	palace	palace	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 summoning	obl
7	for	for	ADP	_	8 questioning	case
8	questioning	questioning	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 palace	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	summon	gerund			him = he			to the palace for questioning	vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

by summoning him to the palace

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	by	by	SCONJ	_	2 summoning	mark
2	summoning	summon	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 summoning	obj
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 palace	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 palace	det
6	palace	palace	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 summoning	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	summon	gerund			him = he			to the palace	vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient

Option 3

by sending a messenger to bring him before the throne at once

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	by	by	SCONJ	_	2 sending	mark
2	sending	send	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 messenger	det
4	messenger	messenger	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 sending	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 bring	mark
6	bring	bring	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 sending	advcl
7	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 bring	obj
8	before	before	ADP	_	10 throne	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 throne	det
10	throne	throne	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 bring	obl
11	at	at	ADP	_	12 once	case
12	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	6 bring	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	send	gerund		a messenger					vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent messenger=Theme
2	bring	to-infinitive			him = he		before the throne		vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument he=Destination

Option 4

through a trusted courtier

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	through	through	ADP	_	4 courtier	case
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 courtier	det
3	trusted	trust	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 courtier	amod
4	courtier	courtier	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	trust	participle							vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: 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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/214-pg128-part54/e2/