Exam question 1 · English Fairy Tales, The Children in the Wood: the uncle's…

Which of the following describes the manner in which the uncle's wicked design was finally brought to light?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: uncle · What happens: follow, describe, bring, design · To what, where: manner, wicked design

This is exam question 1 of lesson 252 «English Fairy Tales, The Children in the Wood: the uncle's wicked plot and the lost babes» 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	5 describes	nsubj
2	of	of	SCONJ	_	5 describes	mark
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 describes	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 describes	nsubj
5	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 manner	det
7	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 describes	obj
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 which	case
9	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	17 brought	obl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 uncle	det
11	uncle	uncle	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 design	nmod:poss
12	's	's	PART	_	11 uncle	case
13	wicked	wicked	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 design	amod
14	design	design	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 brought	nsubj:pass
15	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	17 brought	aux:pass
16	finally	finally	ADV	_	17 brought	advmod
17	brought	bring	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 manner	acl:relcl
18	to	to	ADP	_	19 light	case
19	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 brought	obl
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 describes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund					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	bring	past · passive		the uncle's wicked design	the manner	to light; finally property	vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme to light=Destination
4	design		the uncle				nom design «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 · ✓ the right answer

The ruffian confessed the truth before his execution

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 ruffian	det
2	ruffian	ruffian	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 confessed	nsubj
3	confessed	confess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 truth	det
5	truth	truth	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 confessed	obj
6	before	before	ADP	_	8 execution	case
7	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 execution	nmod:poss
8	execution	execution	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 confessed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	confess	past	the ruffian	the truth			before ruffian's execution		vn confess-37.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent truth=Topic
2	execute		ruffian						nom execution «act transitive»: poss=agent

Option 2

Through a witness

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Through	through	ADP	_	3 witness	case
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 witness	det
3	witness	witness	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

A servant overheard the uncle's plan

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 servant	det
2	servant	servant	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 overheard	nsubj
3	overheard	overhear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 uncle	det
5	uncle	uncle	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 plan	nmod:poss
6	's	's	PART	_	5 uncle	case
7	plan	plan	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 overheard	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	overhear	past	a servant	the uncle's plan					vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer plan=Stimulus
2	plan		the uncle						nom plan «cognition transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

He was caught red-handed

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	3 caught	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 caught	aux:pass
3	caught	catch	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	red	red	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 handed	amod
5	-	-	PUNCT	_	4 red	punct
6	handed	hand	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 caught	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	catch	past · passive		He					tree rules
2	hand	participle							vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/252-pg14241-part19/e1/