Exam question 3 · English Fairy Tales, Rushen Coatie: the glass slipper fits…

What activity was the sexton engaged in at Mr. Fordyce's grave when he heard the cats?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: activity, Fordyce · What happens: be, engage in, hear · To what, where: sexton, grave, cats

This is exam question 3 of lesson 258 «English Fairy Tales, Rushen Coatie: the glass slipper fits the girl in the rushen coatie» 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	6 engaged	nsubj
2	activity	activity	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 sexton	nsubj
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 sexton	cop
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 sexton	det
5	sexton	sexton	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 What	acl:relcl
6	engaged	engage	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	in	in	ADP	_	6 engaged	compound:prt
8	at	at	ADP	_	12 grave	case
9	Mr.	Mr.	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 Fordyce	nmod:desc
10	Fordyce	Fordyce	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 grave	nmod:poss
11	's	's	PART	_	10 Fordyce	case
12	grave	grave	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 engaged	obl
13	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	15 heard	advmod
14	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 heard	nsubj
15	heard	hear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 engaged	parataxis
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 cats	det
17	cats	cat	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 heard	obj
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 engaged	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	is a	past	activity	the sexton		tree rules
2	engage in	past			Fordyce Mr.'s grave	vn act-114 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	hear	past	Fordyce	the cats		vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer cat=Stimulus

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

shovelling soil into a freshly dug hole for a funeral

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	shovelling	shovell	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 shovelling	obj
3	into	into	ADP	_	7 hole	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 hole	det
5	freshly	freshly	ADV	_	6 dug	advmod
6	dug	dig	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 hole	amod
7	hole	hole	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 shovelling	obl
8	for	for	ADP	_	10 funeral	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 funeral	det
10	funeral	funeral	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 hole	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	shovell	gerund		soil		a dug hole for a funeral			tree rules
2	dig	participle						freshly property	vn create-26.4-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

mending the gate

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	mending	mend	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 gate	det
3	gate	gate	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 mending	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mend	gerund		the gate					tree rules

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

digging the grave

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	digging	dig	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 grave	det
3	grave	grave	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 digging	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	dig	gerund		the grave					vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent grave=Theme

Option 4

repairing the stone wall around the churchyard for the parish

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	repairing	repair	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 wall	det
3	stone	stone	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 wall	compound
4	wall	wall	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 repairing	obj
5	around	around	ADP	_	7 churchyard	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 churchyard	det
7	churchyard	churchyard	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 repairing	obl
8	for	for	ADP	_	10 parish	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 parish	det
10	parish	parish	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 repairing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	repair	gerund		the stone wall		the churchyard		for the parish	vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent wall=Patient

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/258-pg14241-part25/e3/