Exam question 2 · Book of Tales (pg18442), The Black Douglas: a castle won b…

Pray state the reason the watchman dismissed the woman's concern.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Pray, watchman, woman · What happens: state, dismiss, concern · To what, where: reason, concern

This is exam question 2 of lesson 345 «Book of Tales (pg18442), The Black Douglas: a castle won back at dusk» 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	Pray	Pray	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 state	nsubj
2	state	state	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 state	obj
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 watchman	det
6	watchman	watchman	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 dismissed	nsubj
7	dismissed	dismiss	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl:relcl
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 woman	det
9	woman	woman	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 concern	nmod:poss
10	's	's	PART	_	9 woman	case
11	concern	concern	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 dismissed	obj
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 state	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	state speech: other	past	Pray	the reason	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	dismiss	past	the watchman	the woman's concern	vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent concern=Theme
3	concern		the woman		nom concern «cognition 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 · ← Mova's choice

He believed the figures were only shepherds

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 believed	nsubj
2	believed	believe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 figures	det
4	figures	figure	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 shepherds	nsubj
5	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 shepherds	cop
6	only	only	ADV	_	7 shepherds	advmod
7	shepherds	shepherd	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 believed	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	believe	past	He						vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer
2	is a	past	the figures	shepherds					tree rules

Option 2

He assumed the shapes were merely horses

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 assumed	nsubj
2	assumed	assume	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 shapes	det
4	shapes	shape	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 horses	nsubj
5	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 horses	cop
6	merely	merely	ADV	_	7 horses	advmod
7	horses	horse	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 assumed	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	assume	past	He						vn adopt-93.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	is a	past	the shapes	horses				merely property	tree rules

Option 3

He thought the shapes were simply the farmer's cattle returning from the pasture at dusk

The tree, 16 words

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 thought	nsubj
2	thought	think	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 shapes	det
4	shapes	shape	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 cattle	nsubj
5	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 cattle	cop
6	simply	simply	ADV	_	10 cattle	advmod
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 farmer	det
8	farmer	farmer	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 cattle	nmod:poss
9	's	's	PART	_	8 farmer	case
10	cattle	cattle	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 thought	ccomp
11	returning	return	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 cattle	acl
12	from	from	ADP	_	14 pasture	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 pasture	det
14	pasture	pasture	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 returning	obl
15	at	at	ADP	_	16 dusk	case
16	dusk	dusk	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 returning	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	think speech: other	past	He					vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	is a	past	the shapes	the farmer's cattle			simply property	tree rules
3	return	gerund	the farmer's cattle not said here		the pasture	dusk		vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from pasture=Initial_Location

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

He judged the approaching figures to be cattle

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 judged	nsubj
2	judged	judge	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 figures	det
4	approaching	approach	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 figures	amod
5	figures	figure	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 judged	obj
6	to	to	PART	_	8 cattle	mark
7	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	8 cattle	cop
8	cattle	cattle	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 judged	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	judge	past	He	the approaching figures	vn estimate-34.2-1-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Agent figure=Value
2	approach	gerund			vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	is a	to-infinitive	He not said here	cattle	tree rules

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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