Exam question 2 · English Fairy Tales, A Pottle o' Brains, part 20: the Hoby…

What is the principal reason the fool wishes to acquire a pottle of brains?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: fool · What happens: be, wish, acquire · To what, where: principal reason, pottle

This is exam question 2 of lesson 253 «English Fairy Tales, A Pottle o' Brains, part 20: the Hobyahs are beaten, the fool's mother dies, and a lass offers to help him» 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=Int	5 reason	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 reason	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 reason	det
4	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 reason	amod
5	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 fool	det
7	fool	fool	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 wishes	nsubj
8	wishes	wish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 reason	acl:relcl
9	to	to	PART	_	10 acquire	mark
10	acquire	acquire	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 wishes	xcomp
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 pottle	det
12	pottle	pottle	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 acquire	obj
13	of	of	ADP	_	14 brains	case
14	brains	brain	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 pottle	nmod
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 reason	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	is a	present		the principal reason	tree rules
2	wish	present	the fool	the principal reason not said here	tree rules
3	acquire not said to happen	to-infinitive	the fool not said here	a pottle of brains	vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset pottle=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 · ✓ the right answer

He is repeatedly ridiculed for his foolishness

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	4 ridiculed	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 ridiculed	aux:pass
3	repeatedly	repeatedly	ADV	_	4 ridiculed	advmod
4	ridiculed	ridicule	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	for	for	ADP	_	7 foolishness	case
6	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 foolishness	nmod:poss
7	foolishness	foolishness	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 ridiculed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ridicule	present · passive		He				for his foolishness; repeatedly property	vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Theme for foolishness=Attribute

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

He wants to be wise

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 wants	nsubj
2	wants	want	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	5 wise	mark
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 wise	cop
5	wise	wise	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 wants	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	want	present	He						vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Pivot
2	is not said to happen	to-infinitive	He not said here					wise property	tree rules

Option 3

He is always teased for being silly

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	4 teased	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 teased	aux:pass
3	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	4 teased	advmod
4	teased	tease	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	for	for	ADP	_	7 silly	case
6	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	7 silly	cop
7	silly	silly	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 teased	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tease	present · passive		He				always property	vn bully-59.5 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient
2	is	gerund						silly property	tree rules

Option 4

He wants to be like his mam

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 wants	nsubj
2	wants	want	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	7 mam	mark
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	7 mam	cop
5	like	like	ADP	_	7 mam	case
6	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 mam	nmod:poss
7	mam	mam	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 wants	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	want	present	He						vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot
2	is not said to happen	to-infinitive	He not said here					like his mam	tree rules

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/253-pg14241-part20/e2/