Exam question 4 · Russian Folk-Tales, Emilian the Fool, part 59: the fool's…

Describe the manner in which the townspeople arrived at their decision to petition the King against the fool.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, townspeople, their · What happens: describe, arrive, petition, decide · To what, where: manner, decision, King

This is exam question 4 of lesson 467 «Russian Folk-Tales, Emilian the Fool, part 59: the fool's pike-magic pails, sledge and cudgel make the town angry, so they plan a trick» 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	Describe	describe	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 manner	det
3	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Describe	obj
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 arrived	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 townspeople	det
7	townspeople	townspeople	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 arrived	nsubj
8	arrived	arrive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	1 Describe	parataxis
9	at	at	ADP	_	11 decision	case
10	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 decision	nmod:poss
11	decision	decision	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 arrived	obl
12	to	to	PART	_	13 petition	mark
13	petition	petition	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 arrived	advcl
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 King	det
15	King	King	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 petition	obj
16	against	against	ADP	_	18 fool	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 fool	det
18	fool	fool	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 petition	obl
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Describe	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	describe	imperative	you not said here	the manner			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent manner=Theme
2	arrive	past	the townspeople		their decision		vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	petition	to-infinitive	the townspeople not said here	the King		against the fool	tree rules
4	decide		their = they				nom decision «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 · ✓ the right answer

They gathered together after the cudgel had struck them, and resolved to deceive him

The tree, 14 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 gathered	nsubj
2	gathered	gather	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	together	together	ADV	_	2 gathered	advmod
4	after	after	SCONJ	_	8 struck	mark
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 cudgel	det
6	cudgel	cudgel	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 struck	nsubj:pass
7	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 struck	aux
8	struck	strike	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 gathered	advcl
9	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 struck	obj
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 resolved	punct
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 resolved	cc
12	resolved	resolve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 gathered	conj
13	to	to	PART	_	14 deceive	mark
14	deceive	deceive	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 resolved	xcomp
15	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 deceive	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	gather	past	They		together property	vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	strike	past · perfect · passive		the cudgel		vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP ADJP»: subject=Patient they=Result
3	resolve	past	They not said here			tree rules
4	deceive	to-infinitive	They not said here	him = he		vn trick-59.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

They met and planned to trick him

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 met	nsubj
2	met	meet	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	4 planned	cc
4	planned	plan	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 met	conj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 trick	mark
6	trick	trick	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 planned	xcomp
7	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 trick	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	meet	past	They		vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	plan	past	They not said here		vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	trick not said to happen	to-infinitive	They not said here	him = he	vn trick-59.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient

Option 3

They met in the square, which was full of wreckage, and agreed to ask the King for help

The tree, 18 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 met	nsubj
2	met	meet	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	5 square	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 square	det
5	square	square	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 met	obl
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 full	punct
7	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 full	nsubj
8	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 full	cop
9	full	full	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 square	acl:relcl
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 wreckage	case
11	wreckage	wreckage	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 full	obl
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 agreed	punct
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 agreed	cc
14	agreed	agree	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 met	conj
15	to	to	PART	_	16 ask	mark
16	ask	ask	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	14 agreed	xcomp
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 King	det
18	King	King	PROPN	Number=Sing	16 ask	obj
19	for	for	ADP	_	20 help	case
20	help	help	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 ask	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	to whom	where	other	roles by
1	meet	past	They		the square		vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	is	past	the square			of wreckage; full property	tree rules
3	agree speech: agree	past	They not said here				vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
4	ask speech: ask not said to happen	to-infinitive	They not said here	the King		for help	vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent king=Recipient

Option 4

They met in the square and agreed to fool him

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 met	nsubj
2	met	meet	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	5 square	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 square	det
5	square	square	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 met	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 agreed	cc
7	agreed	agree	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 met	conj
8	to	to	PART	_	9 fool	mark
9	fool	fool	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 agreed	xcomp
10	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 fool	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	meet	past	They		the square	vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	agree speech: agree	past	They not said here			vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	fool not said to happen	to-infinitive	They not said here	him = he		vn trick-59.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient

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/467-pg22373-part59/e4/