Exam question 4 · Fifty Famous Stories Retold, King Alfred and the Beggar, p…

Which of the following statements concerning the number of soldiers promised to the king by the old man is correct?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: soldiers, concerning · What happens: follow, concern, promise, be · To what, where: number, king · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 4 of lesson 341 «Fifty Famous Stories Retold, King Alfred and the Beggar, part 1: Alfred shares his last bread and wine, then sees a vision» 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	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 statements	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
6	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	20 correct	csubj
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 number	det
8	number	number	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 concerning	obj
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 soldiers	case
10	soldiers	soldier	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 promised	nsubj
11	promised	promise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 number	acl:relcl
12	to	to	ADP	_	14 king	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 king	det
14	king	king	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 promised	obl
15	by	by	ADP	_	18 man	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 man	det
17	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 man	amod
18	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 promised	obl
19	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	20 correct	cop
20	correct	correct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 statements	parataxis
21	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 statements	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund					vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	concern	gerund		the number			vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus number=Experiencer
3	promise speech: promise	past	soldiers	the number not said here	the king	by the old man	vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent number=Theme to king=Goal
4	be speech: disagree	present	concerning			correct property	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

Three hundred men would be gathered around the king by eight o'clock.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Three	three	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	2 hundred	compound
2	hundred	hundred	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	3 men	nummod
3	men	man	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 gathered	nsubj:pass
4	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 gathered	aux
5	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 gathered	aux:pass
6	gathered	gather	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	around	around	ADP	_	9 king	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 king	det
9	king	king	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 gathered	obl
10	by	by	ADP	_	12 o'clock	case
11	eight	eight	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	12 o'clock	nummod
12	o'clock	o'clock	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 gathered	obl
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	6 gathered	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	gather	would · passive	eight o'clock	hundred men				around the king	vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Five hundred men would be gathered about the king by nine o'clock.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Five	five	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	2 hundred	compound
2	hundred	hundred	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	3 men	nummod
3	men	man	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 gathered	nsubj:pass
4	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 gathered	aux
5	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 gathered	aux:pass
6	gathered	gather	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	about	about	ADP	_	9 king	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 king	det
9	king	king	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 gathered	obl
10	by	by	ADP	_	12 o'clock	case
11	nine	nine	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	12 o'clock	nummod
12	o'clock	o'clock	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 gathered	obl
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	6 gathered	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	gather	would · passive	nine o'clock	hundred men				about the king	vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

A thousand men would come from every village in the region and be gathered around the king by nine o'clock sharp.

The tree, 21 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 men	det
2	thousand	thousand	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	3 men	nummod
3	men	man	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 come	nsubj
4	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 come	aux
5	come	come	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	from	from	ADP	_	8 village	case
7	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	8 village	det
8	village	village	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 come	obl
9	in	in	ADP	_	11 region	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 region	det
11	region	region	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 come	obl
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 gathered	cc
13	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	14 gathered	aux:pass
14	gathered	gather	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 come	conj
15	around	around	ADP	_	17 king	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 king	det
17	king	king	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 gathered	obl
18	by	by	ADP	_	20 o'clock	case
19	nine	nine	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	20 o'clock	nummod
20	o'clock	o'clock	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 gathered	obl
21	sharp	sharp	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 gathered	advcl
22	.	.	PUNCT	_	5 come	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	come	would	a thousand men			every village		in the region	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from village=Initial_Location
2	gather	infinitive · passive	nine o'clock					around the king	vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

Four hundred men would be gathered about the king by ten o'clock.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Four	four	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	2 hundred	compound
2	hundred	hundred	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	3 men	nummod
3	men	man	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 gathered	nsubj:pass
4	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 gathered	aux
5	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 gathered	aux:pass
6	gathered	gather	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	about	about	ADP	_	9 king	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 king	det
9	king	king	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 gathered	obl
10	by	by	ADP	_	12 o'clock	case
11	ten	ten	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	12 o'clock	nummod
12	o'clock	o'clock	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 gathered	obl
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	6 gathered	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	gather	would · passive	ten o'clock	hundred men				about the king	vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=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.

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