Exam question 2 · English Fairy Tales, The Pedlar of Swaffham: a poor pedlar…

What, according to the narrative, was the outcome of the pedlar's decision to return home and dig beneath the oak?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: pedlar · What happens: accord, be, return, dig, decide · To what, where: outcome, oak

This is exam question 2 of lesson 249 «English Fairy Tales, The Pedlar of Swaffham: a poor pedlar dreams of London Bridge and finds a treasure at home» 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	What	what	PRON	PronType=Rel	17 return	nsubj:outer
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 outcome	punct
3	according	accord	VERB	ExtPos=ADP Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 narrative	case
4	to	to	ADP	_	3 according	fixed
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 narrative	det
6	narrative	narrative	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 outcome	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 narrative	punct
8	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 outcome	cop
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 outcome	det
10	outcome	outcome	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 What	appos
11	of	of	ADP	_	15 decision	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 pedlar	det
13	pedlar	pedlar	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 decision	nmod:poss
14	's	's	PART	_	13 pedlar	case
15	decision	decision	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 outcome	nmod
16	to	to	PART	_	17 return	mark
17	return	return	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
18	home	home	ADV	_	17 return	advmod
19	and	and	CCONJ	_	20 dig	cc
20	dig	dig	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	17 return	conj
21	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	23 oak	case
22	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	23 oak	det
23	oak	oak	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 dig	obl
24	?	?	PUNCT	_	17 return	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	accord	gerund					vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent
2	is a	past		the outcome		accord the narrative; of the pedlar's decision	tree rules
3	return	to-infinitive				home property	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
4	dig	present			the oak		vn hunt-35.1 «NP V PP.theme PP.location»: agent=Agent beneath oak=Location
5	decide		the pedlar				nom decision «act 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

He found treasure

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 found	nsubj
2	found	find	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	treasure	treasure	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 found	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	find	past	He	treasure					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent treasure=Topic

Option 2

He dug up a vast hoard and then sold his shop to move 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 dug	nsubj
2	dug	dig	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	up	up	ADP	_	2 dug	compound:prt
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 hoard	det
5	vast	vast	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 hoard	amod
6	hoard	hoard	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 dug	obj
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 sold	cc
8	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	9 sold	advmod
9	sold	sell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 dug	conj
10	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 shop	nmod:poss
11	shop	shop	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 sold	obj
12	to	to	PART	_	13 move	mark
13	move	move	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 sold	xcomp
14	away	away	ADV	_	13 move	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	dig up	past	He	a vast hoard			vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent hoard=Theme
2	sell	past	He not said here	his shop	then		tree rules
3	move away	to-infinitive	He not said here			away property	vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme

Option 3

He unearthed great riches and later bought a grand house in London

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 unearthed	nsubj
2	unearthed	unearth	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 riches	amod
4	riches	rich	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 unearthed	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 bought	cc
6	later	late	ADV	Degree=Cmp	7 bought	advmod
7	bought	buy	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 unearthed	conj
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 house	det
9	grand	grand	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 house	amod
10	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 bought	obj
11	in	in	ADP	_	12 London	case
12	London	London	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 bought	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	unearth	past	He	great riches					tree rules
2	buy	past	He not said here	a grand house		London		late property	vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent house=Theme

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

He discovered a prodigious treasure and later restored the church

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 discovered	nsubj
2	discovered	discover	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 treasure	det
4	prodigious	prodigious	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 treasure	amod
5	treasure	treasure	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 discovered	obj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 restored	cc
7	later	late	ADV	Degree=Cmp	8 restored	advmod
8	restored	restore	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 discovered	conj
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 church	det
10	church	church	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 restored	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	discover	past	He	a prodigious treasure					vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent treasure=Topic
2	restore	past	He not said here	the church				late property	vn contribute-13.2 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent church=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/249-pg14241-part16/e2/