Exam question 3 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Shadow, part 31: the shadow re…

According to the passage, what custom governs the use of "thou" and "you" between acquaintances in Denmark?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: custom · What happens: accord, govern, use · To what, where: use, thou

This is exam question 3 of lesson 304 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Shadow, part 31: the shadow returns as a fine gentleman and boasts of what he saw» 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	According	accord	VERB	ExtPos=ADP Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 passage	case
2	to	to	ADP	_	1 According	fixed
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 passage	det
4	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 governs	obl
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 governs	punct
6	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	8 governs	obj
7	custom	custom	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 governs	nsubj
8	governs	govern	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 use	det
10	use	use	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 governs	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 thou	case
12	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 thou	punct
13	thou	thou	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=2 PronType=Prs Style=Arch	10 use	nmod
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 thou	punct
15	and	and	CCONJ	_	17 you	cc
16	"	"	PUNCT	_	17 you	punct
17	you	you	PRON	Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs	13 thou	conj
18	"	"	PUNCT	_	17 you	punct
19	between	between	ADP	_	20 acquaintances	case
20	acquaintances	acquaintance	NOUN	Number=Plur	17 you	nmod
21	in	in	ADP	_	22 Denmark	case
22	Denmark	Denmark	PROPN	Number=Sing	20 acquaintances	nmod
23	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 governs	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	accord	gerund				vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent
2	govern	present	custom	the use of thou	accord the passage	tree rules
3	use			thou		nom use «act transitive»: of=patient

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

Only kings say you

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Only	only	ADV	_	2 kings	advmod
2	kings	king	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 say	nsubj
3	say	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	you	you	PRON	Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs	3 say	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	kings	you					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent you=Topic

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

Friends use thou

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Friends	friend	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 use	nsubj
2	use	use	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	thou	thou	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=2 PronType=Prs Style=Arch	2 use	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	use	present	Friends	thou					vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thou=Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Intimate friends employ "thou", whereas strangers employ "you"

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Intimate	intimate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 friends	amod
2	friends	friend	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 employ	nsubj
3	employ	employ	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	"	"	PUNCT	_	5 thou	punct
5	thou	thou	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=2 PronType=Prs Style=Arch	3 employ	obj
6	"	"	PUNCT	_	5 thou	punct
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 employ	punct
8	whereas	whereas	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 employ	obj
9	strangers	stranger	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 employ	nsubj
10	employ	employ	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 employ	conj
11	"	"	PUNCT	_	12 you	punct
12	you	you	PRON	Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs	10 employ	obj
13	"	"	PUNCT	_	12 you	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	employ	present	Intimate friends	thou					vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thou=Theme
2	employ	present	strangers	whereas					tree rules

Option 4

Dear friends call each other thou, and strangers are called you

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Dear	dear	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 friends	amod
2	friends	friend	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 call	nsubj
3	call	call	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	each	each	DET	ExtPos=PRON PronType=Rcp	3 call	obj
5	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 each	fixed
6	thou	thou	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=2 PronType=Prs Style=Arch	3 call	obj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 called	punct
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 called	cc
9	strangers	stranger	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 called	nsubj:pass
10	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 called	aux:pass
11	called	call	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 call	conj
12	you	you	PRON	Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs	11 called	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	call	present	Dear friends	each					vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent each=Theme thou=Result
2	call	present · passive		strangers					vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP NP»: subject=Theme you=Result

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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