Exam question 1 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Fir Tree, part 12: the Fir is…

With what object was the Fir Tree set upright prior to its display in the drawing-room?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: Fir Tree, Tree · What happens: be, display · To what, where: drawing room

This is exam question 1 of lesson 285 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Fir Tree, part 12: the Fir is cut down, decorated, and stripped bare by the children» 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	With	with	ADP	_	3 object	case
2	what	what	DET	PronType=Int	3 object	det
3	object	object	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 set	obl
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 set	cop
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Tree	det
6	Fir	Fir	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 Tree	compound
7	Tree	Tree	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 set	nsubj
8	set	set	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	upright	upright	ADV	_	8 set	advmod
10	prior	prior	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	13 display	case
11	to	to	ADP	_	10 prior	fixed
12	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 display	nmod:poss
13	display	display	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 set	obl
14	in	in	ADP	_	18 room	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 room	det
16	drawing	drawing	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 room	compound
17	-	-	PUNCT	_	16 drawing	punct
18	room	room	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 set	obl
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 set	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	the Fir Tree			the drawing room		with what object; prior Tree's display; set, upright property	tree rules
2	display		Tree						nom display «communication transitive»: poss=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

A large wooden cask packed tightly with damp garden earth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 cask	det
2	large	large	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 cask	amod
3	wooden	wooden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 cask	amod
4	cask	cask	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	packed	pack	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 cask	acl
6	tightly	tightly	ADV	_	5 packed	advmod
7	with	with	ADP	_	10 earth	case
8	damp	damp	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 earth	amod
9	garden	garden	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 earth	compound
10	earth	earth	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 packed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pack	participle		a large wooden cask not said here				with damp garden earth; tightly property	vn spray-9.7-1-1 «NP V NP.destination PP.theme»: agent=Agent with earth=Theme

Option 2

An ornate silver urn that had belonged to the grandmother

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 urn	det
2	ornate	ornate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 urn	amod
3	silver	silver	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 urn	compound
4	urn	urn	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 belonged	nsubj
6	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 belonged	aux
7	belonged	belong	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	4 urn	acl:relcl
8	to	to	ADP	_	10 grandmother	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 grandmother	det
10	grandmother	grandmother	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 belonged	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	belong	past · perfect	a ornate silver urn					to the grandmother	vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme

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

A cask filled with sand

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 cask	det
2	cask	cask	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	filled	fill	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 cask	acl
4	with	with	ADP	_	5 sand	case
5	sand	sand	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 filled	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fill	participle		a cask not said here				with sand	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent with sand=Instrument

Option 4

A bucket of wet soil

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 bucket	det
2	bucket	bucket	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 soil	case
4	wet	wet	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 soil	amod
5	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 bucket	nmod

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

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/285-pg1597-part12/e1/