Exam question 2 · Russian Folk-Tales, Norka: the brothers are punished and t…

According to the passage, what was the condition under which the princesses were compelled to remain silent?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: passage · What happens: accord, be, compel, remain · To what, where: condition, princesses

This is exam question 2 of lesson 427 «Russian Folk-Tales, Norka: the brothers are punished and three weddings are held» 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	According	accord	VERB	ExtPos=ADP Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 passage	case
2	to	to	ADP	_	1 According	fixed
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 passage	det
4	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 condition	punct
6	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	9 condition	nsubj
7	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 condition	cop
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 condition	det
9	condition	condition	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 passage	conj
10	under	under	ADP	_	11 which	case
11	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	15 compelled	obl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 princesses	det
13	princesses	princess	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 compelled	nsubj:pass
14	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	15 compelled	aux:pass
15	compelled	compel	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 condition	acl:relcl
16	to	to	PART	_	17 remain	mark
17	remain	remain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	15 compelled	xcomp
18	silent	silent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 remain	xcomp
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 passage	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	accord	gerund					vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent
2	is a	past	the passage and the condition	the condition			tree rules
3	compel	past · passive		the princesses	the condition		vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result
4	remain	to-infinitive				silent property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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

Their brothers' threat to slay them, backed by the King's own command

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 brothers	nmod:poss
2	brothers	brother	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 threat	nmod:poss
3	'	's	PART	_	2 brothers	case
4	threat	threat	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 slay	mark
6	slay	slay	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 threat	acl
7	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 slay	obj
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 backed	punct
9	backed	back	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 threat	acl
10	by	by	ADP	_	15 command	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 King	det
12	King	King	PROPN	Number=Sing	15 command	nmod:poss
13	's	's	PART	_	12 King	case
14	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 command	amod
15	command	command	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 backed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	slay	to-infinitive		brothers = brother		vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient
2	back	participle		Their brothers's threat not said here	by the King's own command	vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by command=Trajectory
3	command		the King			nom command «communication transitive»: poss=agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Their brothers' threat to slay them

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 brothers	nmod:poss
2	brothers	brother	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 threat	nmod:poss
3	'	's	PART	_	2 brothers	case
4	threat	threat	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 slay	mark
6	slay	slay	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 threat	acl
7	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 slay	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	slay	to-infinitive		brothers = brother					vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient

Option 3

Their father's order to stay quiet

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 father	nmod:poss
2	father	father	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 order	nmod:poss
3	's	's	PART	_	2 father	case
4	order	order	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 stay	mark
6	stay	stay	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 order	acl
7	quiet	quiet	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 stay	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	stay	to-infinitive						quiet property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	order		Their father						nom order «communication transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

Their brothers' threat to slay them if they ever spoke

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 brothers	nmod:poss
2	brothers	brother	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 threat	nmod:poss
3	'	's	PART	_	2 brothers	case
4	threat	threat	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 slay	mark
6	slay	slay	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 threat	acl
7	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 slay	obj
8	if	if	SCONJ	_	11 spoke	mark
9	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 spoke	nsubj
10	ever	ever	ADV	PronType=Ind	11 spoke	advmod
11	spoke	speak	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 slay	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	slay	to-infinitive		brothers = brother					vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient
2	speak speech: other a condition, not said to happen	past	brothers = brother				ever		vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=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.

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