Exam question 4 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The False Collar, part 29: a blind…

In the passage, which phrase most accurately describes the mother's final request to God?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: mother · What happens: describe, request · To what, where: final request, passage

This is exam question 4 of lesson 302 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The False Collar, part 29: a blind mother bargains with Death for her child, then a boastful collar starts to court a garter» 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	In	in	ADP	_	3 passage	case
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 passage	det
3	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 describes	obl
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 phrase	punct
5	which	which	DET	PronType=Int	6 phrase	det
6	phrase	phrase	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 passage	conj
7	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	8 accurately	advmod
8	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	9 describes	advmod
9	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 mother	det
11	mother	mother	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 request	nmod:poss
12	's	's	PART	_	11 mother	case
13	final	final	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 request	amod
14	request	request	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 describes	obj
15	to	to	ADP	_	16 God	case
16	God	God	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 request	nmod
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	9 describes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	describe	present		the mother's final request		the passage and which phrase		to God; accurately property	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: agent=Agent request=Theme to god=be'
2	request		the mother					to God	nom request «communication transitive»: poss=agent to=obl

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

That He not hear her prayers if they oppose His will, and that He take her child to the kingdom

The tree, 20 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	4 hear	nsubj
2	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 hear	nsubj
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 hear	advmod
4	hear	hear	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 hear	obj
6	prayers	prayer	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 hear	obj
7	if	if	SCONJ	_	9 oppose	mark
8	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 oppose	nsubj
9	oppose	oppose	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 hear	advcl
10	His	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 will	nmod:poss
11	will	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	9 oppose	ccomp
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 take	punct
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 take	cc
14	that	that	SCONJ	_	16 take	mark
15	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	16 take	nsubj
16	take	take	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 hear	conj
17	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	18 child	nmod:poss
18	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 take	obj
19	to	to	ADP	_	21 kingdom	case
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 kingdom	det
21	kingdom	kingdom	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 take	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	not hear	infinitive	That	her = she		tree rules
2	oppose a condition, not said to happen	present	prayers = prayer			vn amalgamate-22.2-3 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient
3	take	infinitive	He	her child	the kingdom	vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent child=Theme to kingdom=Destination

Option 2

That He ignore her prayers when they go against Him

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	3 ignore	nsubj
2	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 ignore	nsubj
3	ignore	ignore	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 prayers	nmod:poss
5	prayers	prayer	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 ignore	obj
6	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	8 go	advmod
7	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 go	nsubj
8	go	go	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 ignore	advcl
9	against	against	ADP	_	10 Him	case
10	Him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 go	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ignore	past	That	her prayers		vn neglect-75.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent prayer=Theme
2	go	present	prayers = prayer		against Him = he	vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme against he=Location
3	pray		her = she			nom prayer «act intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

That He not hear her prayers if they oppose His will

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	4 hear	nsubj
2	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 hear	nsubj
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 hear	advmod
4	hear	hear	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 hear	obj
6	prayers	prayer	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 hear	obj
7	if	if	SCONJ	_	9 oppose	mark
8	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 oppose	nsubj
9	oppose	oppose	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 hear	advcl
10	His	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 will	nmod:poss
11	will	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	9 oppose	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not hear	infinitive	That	her = she					tree rules
2	oppose a condition, not said to happen	present	prayers = prayer						vn amalgamate-22.2-3 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient

Option 4

That He reject her prayers if they break His law

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	3 reject	nsubj
2	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 reject	nsubj
3	reject	reject	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 prayers	nmod:poss
5	prayers	prayer	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 reject	obj
6	if	if	SCONJ	_	8 break	mark
7	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 break	nsubj
8	break	break	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 reject	advcl
9	His	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 law	nmod:poss
10	law	law	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 break	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	reject	infinitive	That	her prayers	vn reject-77.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent prayer=Theme
2	break a condition, not said to happen	present	prayers = prayer	His law	vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer law=Patient
3	pray		her = she		nom prayer «act intransitive»: poss=agent

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/302-pg1597-part29/e4/