Exam question 4 · English Fairy Tales, The Children in the Wood: the uncle's…

Which of the following best characterises the conduct of the milder ruffian toward his companion within the wood?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: best · What happens: follow, characteris, conduct · To what, where: conduct, milder ruffian

This is exam question 4 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	6 characterises	obj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 best	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 best	det
4	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 best	case
5	best	good	ADJ	Degree=Sup	6 characterises	nsubj
6	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 conduct	det
8	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 characterises	obj
9	of	of	ADP	_	12 ruffian	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 ruffian	det
11	milder	mild	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	12 ruffian	amod
12	ruffian	ruffian	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 conduct	nmod
13	toward	toward	ADP	_	15 companion	case
14	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	15 companion	nmod:poss
15	companion	companion	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 ruffian	nmod
16	within	within	ADP	_	18 wood	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 wood	det
18	wood	wood	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 characterises	obl
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the best	the conduct of the milder ruffian toward his companion	within the wood	tree rules
3	conduct			the milder ruffian toward his companion		nom conduct «act transitive»: of=patient

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 slew him, having been moved to mildness

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 slew	nsubj
2	slew	slay	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 slew	obj
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 moved	punct
5	having	have	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	7 moved	aux
6	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	7 moved	aux:pass
7	moved	move	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 slew	conj
8	to	to	ADP	_	9 mildness	case
9	mildness	mildness	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 moved	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	slay	past	He	him = he					vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient
2	move	gerund · perfect · passive	He not said here			mildness			vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: to mildness=Trajectory

Option 2

He robbed him, having been moved by greed

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 robbed	nsubj
2	robbed	rob	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 robbed	obj
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 moved	punct
5	having	have	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	7 moved	aux
6	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	7 moved	aux:pass
7	moved	move	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 robbed	conj
8	by	by	ADP	_	9 greed	case
9	greed	greed	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 moved	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rob	past	He	him = he					vn cheat-10.6.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Source
2	move	gerund · perfect · passive	greed						vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme

Option 3

He slew him at once, having first been moved to mildness by the children's plea and the sight of their suffering

The tree, 22 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 slew	nsubj
2	slew	slay	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 slew	obj
4	at	at	ADP	_	5 once	case
5	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	2 slew	obl
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 moved	punct
7	having	have	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	10 moved	aux
8	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	10 moved	advmod
9	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	10 moved	aux:pass
10	moved	move	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 slew	parataxis
11	to	to	ADP	_	12 mildness	case
12	mildness	mildness	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 moved	obl
13	by	by	ADP	_	17 plea	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 children	det
15	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	17 plea	nmod:poss
16	's	's	PART	_	15 children	case
17	plea	plea	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 moved	obl
18	and	and	CCONJ	_	20 sight	cc
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 sight	det
20	sight	sight	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 plea	conj
21	of	of	ADP	_	23 suffering	case
22	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	23 suffering	nmod:poss
23	suffering	suffering	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 sight	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	slay	past	He	him = he			vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient
2	move	gerund · perfect · passive	the children's plea and the sight of plea's suffering		mildness	first property	vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme to mildness=Trajectory
3	sight			plea's suffering			nom sight «cognition transitive»: of=patient
4	suffer		plea				nom suffering «state intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

He fought him

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 fought	nsubj
2	fought	fight	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 fought	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fight	past	He	him = he					vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Co-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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