Exam question 4 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Shadow, part 31: the shadow re…

Which statement most accurately characterises the shadow's conduct during his nocturnal wanderings?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: statement, shadow · What happens: characteris, conduct, wander · To what, where: conduct

This is exam question 4 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	Which	which	DET	PronType=Int	2 statement	det
2	statement	statement	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 characterises	nsubj
3	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	4 accurately	advmod
4	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	5 characterises	advmod
5	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 shadow	det
7	shadow	shadow	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 conduct	nmod:poss
8	's	's	PART	_	7 shadow	case
9	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 characterises	obj
10	during	during	ADP	_	13 wanderings	case
11	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 wanderings	nmod:poss
12	nocturnal	nocturnal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 wanderings	amod
13	wanderings	wandering	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 characterises	obl
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	characteris	present	which statement	the shadow's conduct	during statement's nocturnal wanderings	accurately property	tree rules
2	conduct		the shadow				nom conduct «act transitive»: poss=agent
3	wander		statement				nom wandering «act transitive»: 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

He spied through windows and saw things that others missed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 spied	nsubj
2	spied	spy	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	through	through	ADP	_	4 windows	case
4	windows	window	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 spied	obl
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 saw	cc
6	saw	see	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 spied	conj
7	things	thing	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 saw	obj
8	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 missed	obj
9	others	other	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 missed	nsubj
10	missed	miss	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 things	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	spy	past	He		windows	vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer
2	see	past	He not said here	things		vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer thing=Stimulus
3	miss	past	others	things		vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer that=Stimulus

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

He crept along walls and watched private rooms unseen

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 crept	nsubj
2	crept	creep	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	along	along	ADP	_	4 walls	case
4	walls	wall	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 crept	obl
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 watched	cc
6	watched	watch	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 crept	conj
7	private	private	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 rooms	amod
8	rooms	room	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 watched	obj
9	unseen	unseen	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 watched	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	creep	past	He			walls			vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme along wall=Trajectory
2	watch	past	He not said here	private rooms				unseen property	vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent room=Theme

Option 3

He slept in the streets

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 slept	nsubj
2	slept	sleep	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	5 streets	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 streets	det
5	streets	street	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 slept	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sleep	past	He			the streets			vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in street=Location

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

He peered into windows and observed private matters unseen by others

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 peered	nsubj
2	peered	peer	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	into	into	ADP	_	4 windows	case
4	windows	window	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 peered	obl
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 observed	cc
6	observed	observe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 matters	nsubj
7	private	private	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 observed	xcomp
8	matters	matter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 peered	ccomp
9	unseen	unseen	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 matters	xcomp
10	by	by	ADP	_	11 others	case
11	others	other	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 matters	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	other	roles by
1	peer	past	He	windows		tree rules
2	observe	participle			private property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
3	matter	present			by others; unseen property	vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus

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/304-pg1597-part31/e4/