Exam question 3 · Aesop for Children, The Lark and Her Young Ones: the farme…

What was the state of the nest at the moment when the Farmer and his son began to cut the grain at sunrise?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Farmer · What happens: be, begin, cut · To what, where: state, grain

This is exam question 3 of lesson 377 «Aesop for Children, The Lark and Her Young Ones: the farmer must cut his wheat himself, so the larks fly away» 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	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	4 state	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 state	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 state	det
4	state	state	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 nest	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 nest	det
7	nest	nest	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 state	nmod
8	at	at	ADP	_	10 moment	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 moment	det
10	moment	moment	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 state	nmod
11	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	17 began	advmod
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 Farmer	det
13	Farmer	Farmer	PROPN	Number=Sing	17 began	nsubj
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 son	cc
15	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	16 son	nmod:poss
16	son	son	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 Farmer	conj
17	began	begin	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 moment	acl:relcl
18	to	to	PART	_	19 cut	mark
19	cut	cut	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	17 began	xcomp
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 grain	det
21	grain	grain	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 cut	obj
22	at	at	ADP	_	23 sunrise	case
23	sunrise	sunrise	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 cut	obl
24	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 state	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past		the state	moment	of the nest	tree rules
2	begin	past	the Farmer and his son				vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
3	cut	to-infinitive	the Farmer and his son not said here	the grain	sunrise		vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset grain=Product

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

The nest was still full of young Larks waiting

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 nest	det
2	nest	nest	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 full	nsubj
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 full	cop
4	still	still	ADV	_	5 full	advmod
5	full	full	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 Larks	case
7	young	young	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 Larks	amod
8	Larks	lark	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 full	obl
9	waiting	wait	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 Larks	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	the nest				still	of young Larks; full property	tree rules
2	wait	gerund	young Larks not said here						vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

The nest held four eggs, still warm from the mother lark's body

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 nest	det
2	nest	nest	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 warm	nsubj
3	held	hold	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 nest	acl
4	four	four	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	5 eggs	nummod
5	eggs	egg	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 held	obj
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 warm	punct
7	still	still	ADV	_	8 warm	advmod
8	warm	warm	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
9	from	from	ADP	_	14 body	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 lark	det
11	mother	mother	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 lark	compound
12	lark	lark	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 body	nmod:poss
13	's	's	PART	_	12 lark	case
14	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 warm	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hold	participle	the nest not said here	four eggs					vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent egg=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The nest was empty, the young Larks having departed in the night

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 nest	det
2	nest	nest	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 empty	nsubj
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 empty	cop
4	empty	empty	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 departed	punct
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Larks	det
7	young	young	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 Larks	amod
8	Larks	lark	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 departed	nsubj:pass
9	having	have	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	10 departed	aux
10	departed	depart	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 empty	advcl
11	in	in	ADP	_	13 night	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 night	det
13	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 departed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	the nest					empty property	tree rules
2	depart	gerund · perfect · passive		the young Larks			night		vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Initial_Location

Option 4

The nest was full of young larks still waiting for their mother to return

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 nest	det
2	nest	nest	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 full	nsubj
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 full	cop
4	full	full	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 larks	case
6	young	young	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 larks	amod
7	larks	lark	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 full	obl
8	still	still	ADV	_	9 waiting	advmod
9	waiting	wait	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 full	parataxis
10	for	for	ADP	_	12 mother	case
11	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 mother	nmod:poss
12	mother	mother	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 waiting	obl
13	to	to	PART	_	14 return	mark
14	return	return	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 waiting	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	the nest		of young larks; full property	tree rules
2	wait	gerund		still	for larks's mother	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	return	to-infinitive				vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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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