Exam question 2 · English Fairy Tales, The Children in the Wood: the uncle's…

To which of the following circumstances may the death of the uncle be most properly attributed?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: uncle · What happens: follow, attribute, die · To what, where: death

This is exam question 2 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	To	to	ADP	_	2 which	case
2	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	16 attributed	obl
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 circumstances	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 circumstances	det
5	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 circumstances	amod
6	circumstances	circumstance	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 attributed	obl
7	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	16 attributed	aux
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 death	det
9	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 attributed	nsubj:pass
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 uncle	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 uncle	det
12	uncle	uncle	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 death	nmod
13	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	16 attributed	aux:pass
14	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	15 properly	advmod
15	properly	properly	ADV	_	16 attributed	advmod
16	attributed	attribute	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	16 attributed	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	attribute	may · passive		the death of the uncle	of the following circumstances; properly property	tree rules
3	die		the uncle			nom death «event intransitive»: of=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

Hanging for the murder of the children

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Hanging	hang	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	for	for	ADP	_	4 murder	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 murder	det
4	murder	murder	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Hanging	obl
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 children	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 children	det
7	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 murder	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hang	gerund						for the murder of the children	vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	murder			the children					nom murder «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

A fever in the cell

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 fever	det
2	fever	fever	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	5 cell	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 cell	det
5	cell	cell	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 fever	nmod

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

Option 3

Poison

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Poison	poison	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

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

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

His imprisonment for debt, following his ruin

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	His	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 imprisonment	nmod:poss
2	imprisonment	imprisonment	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	for	for	ADP	_	4 debt	case
4	debt	debt	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 imprisonment	nmod
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 following	punct
6	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 imprisonment	acl
7	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 ruin	nmod:poss
8	ruin	ruin	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 following	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund	His imprisonment for debt not said here	his ruin		vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ruin=Theme
2	imprison		His = he		for debt	nom imprisonment «act transitive»: poss=agent for=obl
3	ruin		his = he			nom ruin «state transitive»: poss=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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