Exam question 3 · English Fairy Tales, The Coat o' Clay: a fool hunts for a…

Which of the following correctly describes the manner in which the squire responds to the fool?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: squire · What happens: follow, describe, respond · To what, where: manner

This is exam question 3 of lesson 247 «English Fairy Tales, The Coat o' Clay: a fool hunts for a coat o' clay, gets muddy and drunk, and learns he is still a fool» 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	6 describes	nsubj
2	of	of	SCONJ	_	6 describes	mark
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 describes	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 describes	csubj
5	correctly	correctly	ADV	_	4 following	advmod
6	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 manner	det
8	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 describes	obj
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 which	case
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 responds	obl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 squire	det
12	squire	squire	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 responds	nsubj
13	responds	respond	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 manner	parataxis
14	to	to	ADP	_	16 fool	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 fool	det
16	fool	fool	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 responds	obl
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 describes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				correctly property	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	describe	present		the manner			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent manner=Theme
3	respond speech: other	present	the squire		the manner	to the fool	vn respond-113 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to fool=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

He nods and rides past

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 nods	nsubj
2	nods	nod	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	4 rides	cc
4	rides	ride	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 nods	conj
5	past	past	ADV	_	4 rides	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	nod	present	He						vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	ride	present	He not said here					past property	vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

He stops, laughs loudly, and offers him a coin before riding away

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 stops	nsubj
2	stops	stop	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 laughs	punct
4	laughs	laugh	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 stops	conj
5	loudly	loudly	ADV	_	4 laughs	advmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 offers	punct
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 offers	cc
8	offers	offer	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 stops	parataxis
9	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 offers	iobj
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 coin	det
11	coin	coin	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 offers	obj
12	before	before	SCONJ	_	13 riding	mark
13	riding	ride	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 offers	advcl
14	away	away	ADV	_	13 riding	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	other	roles by
1	stop	present	He				vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
2	laugh	present	He not said here			loudly property	vn nonverbal_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	offer	present		a coin	him = he		vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.goal NP»: agent=Agent he=Goal coin=Theme
4	ride away	gerund				away property	vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

He dismounts, examines the fool closely, and then laughs before leaving

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 dismounts	nsubj
2	dismounts	dismount	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 examines	punct
4	examines	examine	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 dismounts	conj
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 fool	det
6	fool	fool	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 examines	obj
7	closely	closely	ADV	_	4 examines	advmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 laughs	punct
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 laughs	cc
10	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	11 laughs	advmod
11	laughs	laugh	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 dismounts	conj
12	before	before	SCONJ	_	13 leaving	mark
13	leaving	leave	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	11 laughs	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	dismount	present	He				vn disassemble-23.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	examine	present	He not said here	the fool		closely property	vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fool=Theme
3	laugh	present	He not said here		then		vn nonverbal_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent
4	leave	gerund	He not said here				vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

He laughs and continues on his way

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 laughs	nsubj
2	laughs	laugh	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	4 continues	cc
4	continues	continue	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 laughs	conj
5	on	on	ADP	_	7 way	case
6	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 way	nmod:poss
7	way	way	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 continues	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	laugh	present	He						vn nonverbal_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	continue	present	He not said here			his way			vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/247-pg14241-part14/e3/