Exam question 3 · Andersen's Tales, The Snow Queen, part 17: a Raven tells G…

What reasons does the Raven give for the suitors' failure to share their provisions amongst themselves?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: reasons, suitors · What happens: give, share, fail, provide · To what, where: provisions

This is exam question 3 of lesson 290 «Andersen's Tales, The Snow Queen, part 17: a Raven tells Gerda that Kay is living with a Princess» 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 give	obj
2	reasons	reason	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 give	nsubj
3	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 give	aux
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 Raven	det
5	Raven	raven	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 give	nsubj
6	give	give	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
7	for	for	ADP	_	11 failure	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 suitors	det
9	suitors	suitor	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 failure	nmod:poss
10	'	's	PART	_	9 suitors	case
11	failure	failure	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 give	obl
12	to	to	PART	_	13 share	mark
13	share	share	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 give	advcl
14	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	15 provisions	nmod:poss
15	provisions	provision	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 share	obj
16	amongst	amongst	ADP	_	17 themselves	case
17	themselves	themselves	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	13 share	obl
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 give	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	give	present · do-support	reasons		for the suitors's failure	vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent what=Theme for failure=Asset
2	share	to-infinitive	reasons not said here	reasons's provisions	amongst reasons = reason	tree rules
3	fail		the suitors			nom failure «act intransitive»: poss=agent
4	provide		reasons = reason			nom provision «communication intransitive»: 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

Each man thought a hungry look would impress the Princess, so he kept it

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 man	det
2	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 thought	nsubj
3	thought	think	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 look	det
5	hungry	hungry	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 look	amod
6	look	look	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 impress	nsubj
7	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	8 impress	aux
8	impress	impress	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 thought	ccomp
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 Princess	det
10	Princess	Princess	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 impress	obj
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 kept	punct
12	so	so	ADV	_	14 kept	advmod
13	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 kept	nsubj
14	kept	keep	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 thought	conj
15	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 kept	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	think speech: other	past	each man		vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	impress	would	a hungry look	the Princess	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus princess=Experiencer
3	keep	past	look	it	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme

Option 2

Each man reasoned that appearing hungry would recommend him to the Princess, and so each one ate his food alone in secret

The tree, 22 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 man	det
2	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 reasoned	nsubj
3	reasoned	reason	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	that	that	SCONJ	_	8 recommend	mark
5	appearing	appear	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 recommend	csubj
6	hungry	hungry	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 appearing	xcomp
7	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	8 recommend	aux
8	recommend	recommend	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 reasoned	ccomp
9	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 recommend	obj
10	to	to	ADP	_	12 Princess	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 Princess	det
12	Princess	princess	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 recommend	obl
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 ate	punct
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	18 ate	cc
15	so	so	ADV	_	18 ate	advmod
16	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	17 one	det
17	one	one	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 ate	nsubj
18	ate	eat	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 reasoned	conj
19	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	20 food	nmod:poss
20	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 ate	obj
21	alone	alone	ADV	_	18 ate	advmod
22	in	in	ADP	_	23 secret	case
23	secret	secret	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 ate	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	other	roles by
1	reason	past	each man					vn deduce-97.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	appear	gerund					hungry property	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	recommend	would	appearing	man	the Princess			vn say-37.7-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Topic to princess=Recipient
4	eat	past	each one	man's food		secret	alone property	vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Patient

Option 3

Each man believed that seeming starved would help him win the Princess's hand

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 man	det
2	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 believed	nsubj
3	believed	believe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	that	that	SCONJ	_	8 help	mark
5	seeming	seem	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 help	csubj
6	starved	starve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 seeming	xcomp
7	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	8 help	aux
8	help	help	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 believed	ccomp
9	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 help	obj
10	win	win	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 help	xcomp
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 Princess	det
12	Princess	Princess	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 hand	nmod:poss
13	's	's	PART	_	12 Princess	case
14	hand	hand	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 win	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	believe	past	each man		vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus
2	seem	gerund			vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute
3	starve	participle			tree rules
4	help	would	seeming	man	vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary clause=Theme
5	win	infinitive	man not said here	the Princess's hand	vn succeed-74-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hand=Eventuality

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Each man reasoned that appearing hungry would recommend him to the Princess

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 man	det
2	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 reasoned	nsubj
3	reasoned	reason	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	that	that	SCONJ	_	8 recommend	mark
5	appearing	appear	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 recommend	csubj
6	hungry	hungry	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 appearing	xcomp
7	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	8 recommend	aux
8	recommend	recommend	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 reasoned	ccomp
9	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 recommend	obj
10	to	to	ADP	_	12 Princess	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 Princess	det
12	Princess	princess	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 recommend	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	other	roles by
1	reason	past	each man				vn deduce-97.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	appear	gerund				hungry property	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	recommend	would	appearing	man	the Princess		vn say-37.7-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Topic to princess=Recipient

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/290-pg1597-part17/e3/