Exam question 2 · Arabian Nights, Ali Cogia, part 60: the Cadi's trial is re…

By what means did Ali Cogia convey his petition to the sovereign?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: Ali · What happens: mean, convey, petition · To what, where: petition, sovereign

This is exam question 2 of lesson 220 «Arabian Nights, Ali Cogia, part 60: the Cadi's trial is replayed by children, and a clever boy spots the trick» 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=Rel	7 convey	obl
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 what	acl:relcl
4	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 convey	aux
5	Ali	Ali	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 convey	nsubj
6	Cogia	Cogia	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 Ali	flat
7	convey	convey	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
8	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 petition	nmod:poss
9	petition	petition	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 convey	obj
10	to	to	ADP	_	12 sovereign	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 sovereign	det
12	sovereign	sovereign	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 convey	obl
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 convey	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	roles by
1	mean	present				vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
2	convey	past · do-support	Ali	Ali's petition	the sovereign	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent petition=Topic to sovereign=Recipient
3	petition		Ali			nom petition «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 · ✓ the right answer

He handed it to the officer walking before the Caliph on the road.

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 handed	nsubj
2	handed	hand	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 handed	obj
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 officer	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 officer	det
6	officer	officer	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 handed	obl
7	walking	walk	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 handed	advcl
8	before	before	ADP	_	10 Caliph	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 Caliph	det
10	Caliph	Caliph	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 walking	obl
11	on	on	ADP	_	13 road	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 road	det
13	road	road	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 walking	obl
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 handed	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hand	past	He	it		the officer			vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme to officer=Destination
2	walk	gerund	He not said here			the road	before the Caliph		vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme before caliph=Trajectory

Option 2

He gave it to a friend who carried it to the palace gate on a mule.

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 gave	nsubj
2	gave	give	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 gave	obj
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 friend	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 friend	det
6	friend	friend	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 gave	obl
7	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 carried	nsubj
8	carried	carry	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 friend	acl:relcl
9	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 carried	obj
10	to	to	ADP	_	13 gate	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 gate	det
12	palace	palace	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 gate	compound
13	gate	gate	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 carried	obl
14	on	on	ADP	_	16 mule	case
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 mule	det
16	mule	mule	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 carried	obl
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 gave	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	past	He	it	a friend				vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent it=Theme to friend=Recipient
2	carry	past	a friend	friend		the palace gate		on a mule	vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme to gate=Destination

Option 3

He handed it to a guard.

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 handed	nsubj
2	handed	hand	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 handed	obj
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 guard	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 guard	det
6	guard	guard	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 handed	obl
7	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 handed	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hand	past	He	it		a guard			vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme to guard=Destination

Option 4

He left it with the Cadi's clerk, who promised to deliver it to the palace in the morning.

The tree, 19 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 left	nsubj
2	left	leave	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 left	obj
4	with	with	ADP	_	8 clerk	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Cadi	det
6	Cadi	Cadi	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 clerk	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 Cadi	case
8	clerk	clerk	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 left	obl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 promised	punct
10	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 promised	nsubj
11	promised	promise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 clerk	acl:relcl
12	to	to	PART	_	13 deliver	mark
13	deliver	deliver	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	11 promised	xcomp
14	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 deliver	obj
15	to	to	ADP	_	17 palace	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 palace	det
17	palace	palace	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 deliver	obl
18	in	in	ADP	_	20 morning	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 morning	det
20	morning	morning	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 deliver	obl
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 left	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	leave	past	He	it			with the Cadi's clerk	vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP.theme»: agent=Agent it=Recipient with clerk=Theme
2	promise speech: promise	past	the Cadi's clerk					vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	deliver not said to happen	to-infinitive	the Cadi's clerk not said here	clerk	the palace	morning		vn send-11.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme to palace=Destination

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/220-pg128-part60/e2/