Exam question 2 · Arabian Nights, The Man Who Became a Dog, part 57: a secre…

By what means did the narrator's wife transform him into an animal of the canine kind?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: wife · What happens: mean, do, transform · To what, where: him

This is exam question 2 of lesson 217 «Arabian Nights, The Man Who Became a Dog, part 57: a secret midnight feast, a curse, and a dog in a cookshop» 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	By	by	ADP	_	2 what	case
2	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	4 did	obj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 what	acl:relcl
4	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 narrator	det
6	narrator	narrator	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 wife	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 narrator	case
8	wife	wife	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 transform	nsubj
9	transform	transform	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 did	parataxis
10	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 transform	obj
11	into	into	ADP	_	13 animal	case
12	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 animal	det
13	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 transform	obl
14	of	of	ADP	_	17 kind	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 kind	det
16	canine	canine	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 kind	amod
17	kind	kind	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 animal	nmod
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 did	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	mean	present				vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
2	do	past				vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality
3	transform	present	the narrator's wife	him = he	into a animal of the canine kind result	vn turn-26.6.1 «NP V NP.patient PP.result»: agent=Agent he=Patient into animal=Result

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 chanting over him for hours, then tearing his shirt and leaving him to crawl home alone

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 chanting	mark
2	chanting	chant	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	over	over	ADP	_	4 him	case
4	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 chanting	obl
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 hours	case
6	hours	hour	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 chanting	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 tearing	punct
8	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	9 tearing	advmod
9	tearing	tear	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 chanting	conj
10	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 shirt	nmod:poss
11	shirt	shirt	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 tearing	obj
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 leaving	cc
13	leaving	leave	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 chanting	conj
14	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 leaving	obj
15	to	to	PART	_	16 crawl	mark
16	crawl	crawl	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	13 leaving	xcomp
17	home	home	ADV	_	16 crawl	advmod
18	alone	alone	ADV	_	16 crawl	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	chant	gerund			hour	over him = he	vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	tear	gerund		his shirt	then		vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial_Location shirt=Theme
3	leave	gerund		him = he			tree rules
4	crawl	to-infinitive	him = he not said here			alone, home property	vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

By burning his clothes at dawn

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 burning	mark
2	burning	burn	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 clothes	nmod:poss
4	clothes	clothes	NOUN	Number=Ptan	2 burning	obj
5	at	at	ADP	_	6 dawn	case
6	dawn	dawn	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 burning	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	burn	gerund		his clothes			dawn		vn light_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent clothes=Theme

Option 3

By striking him with a stick

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 striking	mark
2	striking	strike	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 striking	obj
4	with	with	ADP	_	6 stick	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 stick	det
6	stick	stick	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 striking	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	strike	gerund		him = he				with a stick	vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent he=Patient with stick=Instrument

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

By sprinkling water upon him and pronouncing a curse

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 sprinkling	mark
2	sprinkling	sprinkle	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 sprinkling	obj
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	5 him	case
5	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 sprinkling	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 pronouncing	cc
7	pronouncing	pronounce	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 sprinkling	conj
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 curse	det
9	curse	curse	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 pronouncing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sprinkle	gerund		water				upon him = he	vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent water=Theme upon he=Destination
2	pronounce	gerund		a curse					vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent curse=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.

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