Exam question 2 · Russian Folk-Tales, The Simpleton: the ox sold to the Birc…
What was the reason the Simpleton gave for striking the tree with his hatchet?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: reason, Simpleton · What happens: be, give, strike · To what, where: reason, tree
This is exam question 2 of lesson 420 «Russian Folk-Tales, The Simpleton: the ox sold to the Birch, the gold, and the goat's head» 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 | root | root |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 1 What | cop |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 reason | det |
| 4 | reason | reason | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 What | nsubj |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 Simpleton | det |
| 6 | Simpleton | Simpleton | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 gave | nsubj |
| 7 | gave | give | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 reason | acl:relcl |
| 8 | for | for | SCONJ | _ | 9 striking | mark |
| 9 | striking | strike | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 7 gave | advcl |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 tree | det |
| 11 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 striking | obj |
| 12 | with | with | ADP | _ | 14 hatchet | case |
| 13 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 14 hatchet | nmod:poss |
| 14 | hatchet | hatchet | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 striking | obl |
| 15 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 1 What | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | past | the reason | tree rules | |||||
| 2 | give | past | the Simpleton | the reason not said here | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Theme | ||||
| 3 | strike | gerund | the Simpleton not said here | the tree | with Simpleton's hatchet | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent tree=Patient with hatchet=Instrument |
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
Its repeated promises to pay him back the money, and its rude creaking
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 3 promises | nmod:poss |
| 2 | repeated | repeat | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 promises | amod |
| 3 | promises | promise | NOUN | Number=Plur | root | root |
| 4 | to | to | PART | _ | 5 pay | mark |
| 5 | pay | pay | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 promises | acl |
| 6 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 pay | obj |
| 7 | back | back | ADP | _ | 5 pay | compound:prt |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 money | det |
| 9 | money | money | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 pay | obj |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 creaking | punct |
| 11 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 14 creaking | cc |
| 12 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 14 creaking | nmod:poss |
| 13 | rude | rude | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 14 creaking | amod |
| 14 | creaking | creaking | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 promises | conj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | repeat | participle | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | ||||||
| 2 | pay back | to-infinitive | him = he | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient money=Asset | |||||
| 3 | promise | Its = it | nom promise «communication transitive»: poss=agent | ||||||
| 4 | creak | money | nom creaking «event intransitive»: poss=agent |
Option 2
It had broken all its promises to pay him, and then it creaked at him all day long
The tree, 18 words
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 broken | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 broken | aux |
| 3 | broken | break | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 6 promises | det:predet |
| 5 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 6 promises | nmod:poss |
| 6 | promises | promise | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 broken | obj |
| 7 | to | to | PART | _ | 8 pay | mark |
| 8 | pay | pay | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 broken | advcl |
| 9 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 pay | obj |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 creaked | punct |
| 11 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 14 creaked | cc |
| 12 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 14 creaked | advmod |
| 13 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 creaked | nsubj |
| 14 | creaked | creak | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 broken | conj |
| 15 | at | at | ADP | _ | 16 him | case |
| 16 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 creaked | obl |
| 17 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 18 day | det |
| 18 | day | day | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 creaked | obl:unmarked |
| 19 | long | long | ADV | Degree=Pos | 3 broken | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | break | past · perfect · passive | It | long property | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Patient promise=Result | ||||
| 2 | pay | to-infinitive | him = he | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Asset | |||||
| 3 | creak | past | it | then; day | at him = he | vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at he=Location | |||
| 4 | promise | its = it | nom promise «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
Option 3 · ✓ the right answer
Its repeated promises to pay
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 3 promises | nmod:poss |
| 2 | repeated | repeat | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 promises | amod |
| 3 | promises | promise | NOUN | Number=Plur | root | root |
| 4 | to | to | PART | _ | 5 pay | mark |
| 5 | pay | pay | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 promises | acl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | repeat | participle | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | ||||||
| 2 | pay | to-infinitive | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 3 | promise | Its = it | nom promise «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
Option 4
Its endless empty promises
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 4 promises | nmod:poss |
| 2 | endless | endless | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 promises | amod |
| 3 | empty | empty | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 promises | amod |
| 4 | promises | promise | NOUN | Number=Plur | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | promise | Its = it | nom promise «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
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/420-pg22373-part12/e2/