Exam question 3 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Elder-Tree Mother: the ending,…

What is the function of the Elder Tree within the narrative as a whole?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: be · To what, where: function

This is exam question 3 of lesson 296 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Elder-Tree Mother: the ending, Remembrance flies through the seasons and the old couple wear golden crowns» 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	4 function	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 function	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 function	det
4	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 Tree	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Tree	det
7	Elder	Elder	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 Tree	compound
8	Tree	Tree	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 function	nmod
9	within	within	ADP	_	11 narrative	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 narrative	det
11	narrative	narrative	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 function	nmod
12	as	as	ADP	_	14 whole	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 whole	det
14	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 narrative	nmod
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 function	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present		the function				of the Elder Tree; within the narrative as a whole	tree rules

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

It gives sweet flowers

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 gives	nsubj
2	gives	give	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	sweet	sweet	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 flowers	amod
4	flowers	flower	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 gives	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	present	It	sweet flowers					vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flower=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

It is the place from which the story is told and in which the past is remembered

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 place	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 place	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 place	det
4	place	place	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	from	from	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 told	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 story	det
8	story	story	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 told	nsubj:pass
9	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 told	aux:pass
10	told	tell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 place	parataxis
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	17 remembered	cc
12	in	in	ADP	_	13 which	case
13	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	17 remembered	obl
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 past	det
15	past	past	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 remembered	nsubj
16	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	17 remembered	aux:pass
17	remembered	remember	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 told	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	is a	present	It	the place		tree rules
2	tell speech: assert	present · passive		the story	the place	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient
3	remember	present · passive		the past		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: subject=Theme

Option 3

It provides the wood for the walking-stick that becomes a horse in the story

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 provides	nsubj
2	provides	provide	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 wood	det
4	wood	wood	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 provides	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	9 stick	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 stick	det
7	walking	walking	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 stick	compound
8	-	-	PUNCT	_	7 walking	punct
9	stick	stick	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 provides	obl
10	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 becomes	nsubj
11	becomes	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 stick	acl:relcl
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 horse	det
13	horse	horse	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 becomes	xcomp
14	in	in	ADP	_	16 story	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 story	det
16	story	story	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 becomes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	provide	present	It	the wood				for the walking stick	vn ensure-99 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Precondition wood=Theme for stick=Beneficiary
2	become	present	the walking stick	a horse				in the story result	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in story=Result

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

It is the spot where the boy grows up and goes to coffee land and returns

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 spot	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 spot	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 spot	det
4	spot	spot	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	where	where	ADV	PronType=Rel	8 grows	advmod
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 boy	det
7	boy	boy	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 grows	nsubj
8	grows	grow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 spot	acl:relcl
9	up	up	ADP	_	8 grows	compound:prt
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 goes	cc
11	goes	go	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 grows	conj
12	to	to	ADP	_	14 land	case
13	coffee	coffee	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 land	compound
14	land	land	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 goes	obl
15	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 returns	cc
16	returns	return	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 grows	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	is a	present	It	the spot		tree rules
2	grow up	present	the boy			vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	go	present	the boy not said here		coffee land	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to land=Initial_Location
4	return	present	the boy not said here			vn escape-51.1-1 «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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/296-pg1597-part23/e3/