Test 10 · ★ · English Tales, The Lambton Worm, the Childe kills the Worm…

What's the point of the spear-heads, mate?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: point · What happens: be, point · To what, where: spear heads

This is test 10 · ★ of lesson 265 «English Tales, The Lambton Worm, the Childe kills the Worm and his vow is broken» of the books course of Mova's primary school. 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	root	root
2	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 What	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 point	det
4	point	point	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 What	nsubj
5	of	of	ADP	_	9 heads	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 heads	det
7	spear	spear	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 heads	compound
8	-	-	PUNCT	_	7 spear	punct
9	heads	head	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 point	nmod
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 mate	punct
11	mate	mate	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 heads	conj
12	?	?	PUNCT	_	1 What	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	the point of the spear heads and mate						tree rules
2	point			the spear heads and mate					nom point «cognition 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

They finished the worm off proper, mate, after the Childe had already cut it in half

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 finished	nsubj
2	finished	finish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 worm	det
4	worm	worm	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 finished	obj
5	off	off	ADP	_	2 finished	compound:prt
6	proper	properly	ADV	_	2 finished	advmod
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 mate	punct
8	mate	mate	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 finished	vocative
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 cut	punct
10	after	after	SCONJ	_	15 cut	mark
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 Childe	det
12	Childe	Childe	PROPN	Number=Sing	15 cut	nsubj:pass
13	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	15 cut	aux
14	already	already	ADV	_	15 cut	advmod
15	cut	cut	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 finished	parataxis
16	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 cut	obj
17	in	in	ADP	_	18 half	case
18	half	half	NOUN	Number=Sing NumForm=Word NumType=Frac	15 cut	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	finish off	past	They	the worm				mate vocative; properly property	vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality worm=Eventuality
2	cut	past · perfect · passive		the Childe		half			vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: subject=Beneficiary it=Product

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

They finished the worm off proper

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 finished	nsubj
2	finished	finish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 worm	det
4	worm	worm	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 finished	obj
5	off	off	ADP	_	2 finished	compound:prt
6	proper	properly	ADV	_	2 finished	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	finish off	past	They	the worm				properly property	vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality worm=Eventuality

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

They were used to stab the worm's body when it was already dying in the river

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 used	nsubj:pass
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 used	aux:pass
3	used	use	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 stab	mark
5	stab	stab	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 used	xcomp
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 worm	det
7	worm	worm	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 body	nmod:poss
8	's	's	PART	_	7 worm	case
9	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 stab	obj
10	when	when	SCONJ	_	14 dying	mark
11	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 dying	nsubj
12	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	14 dying	aux
13	already	already	ADV	_	14 dying	advmod
14	dying	die	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 stab	advcl
15	in	in	ADP	_	17 river	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 river	det
17	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 dying	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	use	past · passive		They		vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S_INF»: subject=Theme clause=Eventuality
2	stab	to-infinitive		the worm's body		vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent body=Patient
3	die	past · progressive	body		in the river	vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.patient V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in river=Attribute

Option 4

They poked the worm wi' spears

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 poked	nsubj
2	poked	poke	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 wi	det
4	worm	worm	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 wi	compound
5	wi	wi	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 poked	obj
6	'	'	PUNCT	_	5 wi	punct
7	spears	spear	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 poked	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	poke	past	They	the worm wi					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.

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