Exam question 3 · Russian Folk-Tales, Katoma, part 56: the heroes trap the B…

By what method did the companions ascertain that the water of the second well was genuine?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: method, companions, water · What happens: do, ascertain, be

This is exam question 3 of lesson 464 «Russian Folk-Tales, Katoma, part 56: the heroes trap the Baba Yaga and are healed» 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	By	by	ADP	_	2 what	case
2	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	4 did	obj
3	method	method	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 did	nsubj
4	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 companions	det
6	companions	companion	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 ascertain	nsubj
7	ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 did	parataxis
8	that	that	SCONJ	_	16 genuine	mark
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 water	det
10	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 genuine	nsubj
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 well	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 well	det
13	second	second	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	14 well	amod
14	well	well	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 water	nmod
15	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	16 genuine	cop
16	genuine	genuine	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 ascertain	advcl
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 did	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	do	past	method		vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality
2	ascertain	present	the companions		vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
3	is	past	the water of the second well	genuine property	tree rules

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 · ✓ the right answer

A dry spray placed in it put forth green buds

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 spray	det
2	dry	dry	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 spray	amod
3	spray	spray	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 put	nsubj
4	placed	place	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 spray	acl
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 it	case
6	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 placed	obl
7	put	put	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	forth	forth	ADV	_	7 put	advmod
9	green	green	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 buds	amod
10	buds	bud	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 put	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	place	participle		a dry spray not said here		spray			vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in it=Destination
2	put	past	a dry spray	green buds				forth property	vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent bud=Goal

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

They dropped a dry spray into the water and watched it sprout green buds slowly

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 dropped	nsubj
2	dropped	drop	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 spray	det
4	dry	dry	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 spray	amod
5	spray	spray	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 dropped	obj
6	into	into	ADP	_	8 water	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 water	det
8	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 dropped	obl
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 watched	cc
10	watched	watch	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 dropped	conj
11	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 watched	obj
12	sprout	sprout	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 watched	xcomp
13	green	green	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 buds	amod
14	buds	bud	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 sprout	obj
15	slowly	slowly	ADV	_	12 sprout	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	drop	past	They	a dry spray	the water		vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent spray=Theme into water=Destination
2	watch	past	They not said here	spray			tree rules
3	sprout	infinitive	spray not said here	green buds		slowly property	vn substance_emission-43.4-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location bud=Source

Option 3

They lowered a wooden bowl, filled it, and tested the water with a hot stone

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 lowered	nsubj
2	lowered	lower	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 bowl	det
4	wooden	wooden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 bowl	amod
5	bowl	bowl	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 lowered	obj
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 filled	punct
7	filled	fill	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 lowered	conj
8	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 filled	obj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 tested	punct
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 tested	cc
11	tested	test	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 lowered	conj
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 water	det
13	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 tested	obj
14	with	with	ADP	_	17 stone	case
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 stone	det
16	hot	hot	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 stone	amod
17	stone	stone	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 tested	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	lower	past	They	a wooden bowl		vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bowl=Theme
2	fill	past	They not said here	bowl		vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent it=Patient
3	test	past	They not said here	the water	with a hot stone	vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Theme

Option 4

They placed a dead branch and waited

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 placed	nsubj
2	placed	place	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 branch	det
4	dead	dead	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 branch	amod
5	branch	branch	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 placed	obj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 waited	cc
7	waited	wait	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 placed	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	place	past	They	a dead branch					vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent branch=Theme
2	wait	past	They not said here						vn exist-47.1 «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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/464-pg22373-part56/e3/