Exam question 2 · Russian Folk-Tales, Princess Helena the Fair: Vanya wins t…

Which of the following correctly states the reason the youngest son remained at his father's grave after the burial?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, state, remain · To what, where: reason, youngest son, grave

This is exam question 2 of lesson 466 «Russian Folk-Tales, Princess Helena the Fair: Vanya wins the princess on his dead father's magic horse» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 states	nsubj
2	of	of	SCONJ	_	6 states	mark
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 states	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 states	nsubj
5	correctly	correctly	ADV	_	6 states	advmod
6	states	state	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 reason	det
8	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 states	obj
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 son	det
10	youngest	young	ADJ	Degree=Sup	11 son	amod
11	son	son	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 reason	nmod
12	remained	remain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 son	acl
13	at	at	ADP	_	17 grave	case
14	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	15 father	nmod:poss
15	father	father	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 grave	nmod:poss
16	's	's	PART	_	15 father	case
17	grave	grave	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 remained	obl
18	after	after	ADP	_	20 burial	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 burial	det
20	burial	burial	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 remained	obl
21	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 states	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund					vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	state speech: other	present	the reason the youngest son			correctly property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
3	remain	participle	the youngest son not said here	his father's grave	after the burial		vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at grave=Location

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 wished to be near his mother's old tomb at night

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 wished	nsubj
2	wished	wish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	10 tomb	mark
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	10 tomb	cop
5	near	near	ADP	_	10 tomb	case
6	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 mother	nmod:poss
7	mother	mother	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 tomb	nmod:poss
8	's	's	PART	_	7 mother	case
9	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 tomb	amod
10	tomb	tomb	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 wished	advcl
11	at	at	ADP	_	12 night	case
12	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 wished	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	wish	past	He				night		vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot
2	is	to-infinitive	He not said here			his mother's old tomb			tree rules

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

His father had asked him to read prayers over the grave for three nights, and so he stayed there even though his brothers had gone home

The tree, 26 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	His	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 father	nmod:poss
2	father	father	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 asked	nsubj
3	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 asked	aux
4	asked	ask	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 asked	iobj
6	to	to	PART	_	7 read	mark
7	read	read	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 asked	xcomp
8	prayers	prayer	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 read	obj
9	over	over	ADP	_	11 grave	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 grave	det
11	grave	grave	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 read	obl
12	for	for	ADP	_	14 nights	case
13	three	three	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	14 nights	nummod
14	nights	night	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 read	obl
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	19 stayed	punct
16	and	and	CCONJ	_	19 stayed	cc
17	so	so	ADV	_	19 stayed	advmod
18	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	19 stayed	nsubj
19	stayed	stay	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 asked	conj
20	there	there	ADV	PronType=Dem	19 stayed	advmod
21	even	even	ADV	_	26 gone	advmod
22	though	though	SCONJ	_	26 gone	mark
23	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	24 brothers	nmod:poss
24	brothers	brother	NOUN	Number=Plur	26 gone	nsubj
25	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	26 gone	aux
26	gone	go	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	19 stayed	advcl
27	home	home	ADV	_	26 gone	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ask speech: ask	past · perfect	His father		him = he				vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic
2	read not said to happen	to-infinitive	His father not said here	prayers		the grave	night		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent prayer=Topic
3	stay	past	father			there			vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
4	go	past · perfect	father's brothers					home property	vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

He was asked by his father to read prayers over the grave

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	3 asked	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 asked	aux:pass
3	asked	ask	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 father	case
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 father	nmod:poss
6	father	father	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 asked	obl
7	to	to	PART	_	8 read	mark
8	read	read	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 asked	xcomp
9	prayers	prayer	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 read	obj
10	over	over	ADP	_	12 grave	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 grave	det
12	grave	grave	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 read	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ask speech: ask	past · passive	his father	He					vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent subject=Recipient clause=Topic
2	read not said to happen	to-infinitive	He not said here	prayers		the grave			vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent prayer=Topic

Option 4

He was told to bury his brothers there

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	3 told	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 told	aux:pass
3	told	tell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 bury	mark
5	bury	bury	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 told	xcomp
6	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 brothers	nmod:poss
7	brothers	brother	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 bury	obj
8	there	there	ADV	PronType=Dem	5 bury	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tell speech: assert	past · passive		He					vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic
2	bury not said to happen	to-infinitive	He not said here	his brothers		there			vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent brother=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/466-pg22373-part58/e2/