Exam question 3 · Russian Folk-Tales, The Smith and the Demon: the Smith bur…

Explain the significance of the journeyman's intervention in relation to the Smith's imminent execution.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, journeyman, Smith · What happens: explain, intervene, execute · To what, where: significance, imminent execution, relation

This is exam question 3 of lesson 422 «Russian Folk-Tales, The Smith and the Demon: the Smith burns the seigneur, then the Demon saves him» 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	Explain	explain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 significance	det
3	significance	significance	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Explain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	8 intervention	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 journeyman	det
6	journeyman	journeyman	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 intervention	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 journeyman	case
8	intervention	intervention	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 significance	nmod
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 relation	case
10	relation	relation	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Explain	obl
11	to	to	ADP	_	16 execution	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 Smith	det
13	Smith	Smith	PROPN	Number=Sing	16 execution	nmod:poss
14	's	's	PART	_	13 Smith	case
15	imminent	imminent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 execution	amod
16	execution	execution	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Explain	obl
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Explain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	roles by
1	explain speech: assert	imperative	you not said here	the significance of the journeyman's intervention	the Smith's imminent execution	relation	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent significance=Topic to execution=Recipient
2	intervene		the journeyman				nom intervention «act intransitive»: poss=agent
3	execute		the Smith				nom execution «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 arrives to watch the hanging

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 arrives	nsubj
2	arrives	arrive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 watch	mark
4	watch	watch	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 arrives	xcomp
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 hanging	det
6	hanging	hanging	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 watch	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	arrive	present	He						tree rules
2	watch	to-infinitive	He not said here	the hanging					vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hanging=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

He appears and frees the Smith by pleading with the servants

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 appears	nsubj
2	appears	appear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	4 frees	cc
4	frees	free	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 appears	conj
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Smith	det
6	Smith	Smith	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 frees	obj
7	by	by	SCONJ	_	8 pleading	mark
8	pleading	plead	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 frees	advcl
9	with	with	ADP	_	11 servants	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 servants	det
11	servants	servant	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 pleading	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	appear	present	He			vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	free	present	He not said here	the Smith		vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Causer smith=Source
3	plead speech: request	gerund	He not said here		with the servants	tree rules

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

He arrives and secures the Smith's release by bringing the revived seigneur

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 arrives	nsubj
2	arrives	arrive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	4 secures	cc
4	secures	secure	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 arrives	conj
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Smith	det
6	Smith	Smith	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 release	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 Smith	case
8	release	release	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 secures	obj
9	by	by	SCONJ	_	10 bringing	mark
10	bringing	bring	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 secures	advcl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 seigneur	det
12	revived	revive	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 seigneur	amod
13	seigneur	seigneur	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 bringing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	arrive	present	He		vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	secure	present	He not said here	the Smith's release	vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition release=Theme
3	bring	gerund	He not said here	the revived seigneur	vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent seigneur=Theme
4	revive	participle			vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 4

He returns and wins the Smith's freedom by showing the lady her husband alive

The tree, 15 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 returns	nsubj
2	returns	return	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	4 wins	cc
4	wins	win	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 returns	conj
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Smith	det
6	Smith	Smith	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 freedom	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 Smith	case
8	freedom	freedom	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 wins	obj
9	by	by	SCONJ	_	10 showing	mark
10	showing	show	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 wins	advcl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 lady	det
12	lady	lady	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 showing	obj
13	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 husband	nmod:poss
14	husband	husband	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 lady	appos
15	alive	alive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 showing	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	other	roles by
1	return	present	He				vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	win	present	He not said here	the Smith's freedom			vn succeed-74-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent freedom=Eventuality
3	show	gerund	He not said here		the lady	alive property	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent lady=Recipient

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/422-pg22373-part14/e3/