Exam question 4 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Snow Queen, part 15: Kay is ca…

Which phrase most accurately conveys the nature of the wooden sentries encountered by the girl in the cottage garden?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: phrase · What happens: convey, encounter · To what, where: nature, wooden sentries, cottage garden

This is exam question 4 of lesson 288 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Snow Queen, part 15: Kay is carried off by the Snow Queen while Gerda drifts away by river» 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	DET	PronType=Int	2 phrase	det
2	phrase	phrase	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 conveys	nsubj
3	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	4 accurately	advmod
4	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	5 conveys	advmod
5	conveys	convey	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 nature	det
7	nature	nature	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 conveys	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	11 sentries	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 sentries	det
10	wooden	wooden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 sentries	amod
11	sentries	sentry	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 nature	nmod
12	encountered	encounter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 sentries	acl
13	by	by	ADP	_	15 girl	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 girl	det
15	girl	girl	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 encountered	obl
16	in	in	ADP	_	19 garden	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 garden	det
18	cottage	cottage	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 garden	compound
19	garden	garden	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 encountered	obl
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 conveys	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	convey	present	which phrase	the nature of the wooden sentries				accurately property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent nature=Topic
2	encounter	participle		the wooden sentries not said here		the cottage garden		by the girl	vn encounter-30.5 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer

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

They are wooden soldiers standing guard by the gate

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	4 soldiers	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 soldiers	cop
3	wooden	wooden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 soldiers	amod
4	soldiers	soldier	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
5	standing	stand	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 soldiers	acl
6	guard	guard	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 standing	obj
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 gate	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 gate	det
9	gate	gate	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 standing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	They	wooden soldiers					tree rules
2	stand	gerund	wooden soldiers not said here	guard				by the gate	vn put_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent guard=Theme by gate=Destination

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

They are inanimate figures that present arms to passers-by

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	4 figures	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 figures	cop
3	inanimate	inanimate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 figures	amod
4	figures	figure	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
5	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 present	nsubj
6	present	present	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 figures	acl:relcl
7	arms	arm	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 present	obj
8	to	to	ADP	_	9 passers	case
9	passers	passer	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 present	obl
10	-	-	PUNCT	_	9 passers	punct
11	by	by	ADP	_	6 present	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	They	inanimate figures					tree rules
2	present	present	inanimate figures	arms	passers				vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent arm=Theme to passer=Recipient

Option 3

They are wooden figures that salute visitors

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	4 figures	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 figures	cop
3	wooden	wooden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 figures	amod
4	figures	figure	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
5	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 salute	nsubj
6	salute	salute	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 figures	acl:relcl
7	visitors	visitor	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 salute	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	They	wooden figures					tree rules
2	salute	present	wooden figures	visitors					vn curtsey-40.3.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent visitor=Topic

Option 4

They are living men dressed as soldiers who move their arms and call out to every child who passes

The tree, 19 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 living	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 living	aux
3	living	live	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
4	men	man	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 living	obj
5	dressed	dress	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 men	acl
6	as	as	ADP	_	7 soldiers	case
7	soldiers	soldier	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 dressed	obl
8	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 move	nsubj
9	move	move	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 soldiers	acl:relcl
10	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 arms	nmod:poss
11	arms	arm	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 move	obj
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 call	cc
13	call	call	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 move	conj
14	out	out	ADP	_	13 call	compound:prt
15	to	to	ADP	_	17 child	case
16	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	17 child	det
17	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 call	obl
18	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	19 passes	nsubj
19	passes	pass	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	17 child	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	other	roles by
1	live	present · progressive	They	men			vn lodge-46 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme man=Location
2	dress	participle		men not said here		as soldiers	vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	move	present	soldiers	soldiers's arms			vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent arm=Theme
4	call out speech: assert	infinitive	soldiers not said here		every child		vn animal_sounds-38 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to child=Recipient
5	pass	present	every child				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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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