Exam question 1 · Arabian Nights, Ali Cogia, Merchant of Bagdad, part 1: Ali…

Which of the following most accurately describes the manner in which the merchant's wife endeavoured to dissuade her husband from opening the vase?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: wife · What happens: follow, describe, endeavour, dissuade, open · To what, where: manner, husband, vase

This is exam question 1 of lesson 219 «Arabian Nights, Ali Cogia, Merchant of Bagdad, part 1: Ali hides gold in a vase of olives, and his friend steals it» 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	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 following	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 following	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 following	det
4	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	6 accurately	advmod
6	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	7 describes	advmod
7	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 following	advcl
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 manner	det
9	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 describes	obj
10	in	in	ADP	_	11 which	case
11	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	16 endeavoured	obl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 merchant	det
13	merchant	merchant	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 wife	nmod:poss
14	's	's	PART	_	13 merchant	case
15	wife	wife	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 endeavoured	nsubj
16	endeavoured	endeavour	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 manner	acl:relcl
17	to	to	PART	_	18 dissuade	mark
18	dissuade	dissuade	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	16 endeavoured	xcomp
19	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	20 husband	nmod:poss
20	husband	husband	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 dissuade	obj
21	from	from	SCONJ	_	22 opening	mark
22	opening	open	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	18 dissuade	advcl
23	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	24 vase	det
24	vase	vase	NOUN	Number=Sing	22 opening	obj
25	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 following	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund						vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	describe	present		the manner			accurately property	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent manner=Theme
3	endeavour	past	the merchant's wife			the manner		tree rules
4	dissuade	to-infinitive	the merchant's wife not said here		wife's husband			vn discourage-64.5 «NP V NP PP.eventuality»: agent=Causer husband=Beneficiary
5	open	gerund	the merchant's wife not said here	the vase				vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location vase=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

She warned him not to commit betrayal

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 warned	nsubj
2	warned	warn	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 warned	obj
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	6 commit	advmod
5	to	to	PART	_	6 commit	mark
6	commit	commit	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 warned	ccomp
7	betrayal	betrayal	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 commit	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	warn speech: warn	past	She		him = he				vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP how S_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic
2	not commit	to-infinitive		betrayal					vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent betrayal=Theme

Option 2

She warned him against a betrayal

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 warned	nsubj
2	warned	warn	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 warned	obj
4	against	against	ADP	_	6 betrayal	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 betrayal	det
6	betrayal	betrayal	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 warned	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	warn speech: warn	past	She		him = he			against a betrayal	vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP PP.topic»: agent=Agent he=Recipient against betrayal=Topic

Option 3

She pleaded with him to avoid betrayal

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 pleaded	nsubj
2	pleaded	plead	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	with	with	ADP	_	4 him	case
4	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 pleaded	obl
5	to	to	PART	_	6 avoid	mark
6	avoid	avoid	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 pleaded	advcl
7	betrayal	betrayal	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 avoid	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	plead speech: request	past	She					with him = he	tree rules
2	avoid	to-infinitive	She not said here	betrayal					vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent betrayal=Location

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

She cautioned him against an act of betrayal

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 cautioned	nsubj
2	cautioned	caution	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 cautioned	obj
4	against	against	ADP	_	6 act	case
5	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 act	det
6	act	act	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 cautioned	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 betrayal	case
8	betrayal	betrayal	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 act	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	caution speech: other	past	She		him = he			against a act of betrayal	vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP PP.topic»: agent=Agent he=Recipient against act=Topic
2	act		betrayal						nom act «communication intransitive»: of=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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