Exam question 3 · Russian Folk-Tales, The Fiddler: the fiends, a bridge and…

Which of the following was the stated purpose of the bridge ordered by the Emperor?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, state, be, order · To what, where: bridge

This is exam question 3 of lesson 476 «Russian Folk-Tales, The Fiddler: the fiends, a bridge and a rich moujik's release» 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	8 purpose	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	8 purpose	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 purpose	det
4	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 purpose	case
5	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 purpose	cop
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 purpose	det
7	stated	state	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 purpose	amod
8	purpose	purpose	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 bridge	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 bridge	det
11	bridge	bridge	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 purpose	nmod
12	ordered	order	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 bridge	acl
13	by	by	ADP	_	15 Emperor	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 Emperor	det
15	Emperor	Emperor	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 ordered	obl:agent
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 purpose	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	state speech: other	participle			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
3	is	past		of the stated purpose; of the bridge	tree rules
4	order	participle	the bridge not said here		vn order-58.3-1 «NP V S»: agent=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 · ← Mova's choice

To connect the two villages and allow trade among the poor folk

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 connect	mark
2	connect	connect	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 allow	advcl
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 villages	det
4	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	5 villages	nummod
5	villages	village	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 connect	obj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 allow	cc
7	allow	allow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	trade	trade	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 allow	obj
9	among	among	ADP	_	12 folk	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 folk	det
11	poor	poor	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 folk	amod
12	folk	folk	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 allow	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	connect	to-infinitive		the two villages					vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent village=Patient
2	allow	present		trade				among the poor folk	vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent trade=Beneficiary

Option 2

To shorten the road to town

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 shorten	mark
2	shorten	shorten	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 road	det
4	road	road	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 shorten	obj
5	to	to	ADP	_	6 town	case
6	town	town	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 shorten	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	shorten	to-infinitive		the road				to town	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent road=Patient

Option 3

To help the poor cross the river

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 help	mark
2	help	help	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 poor	det
4	poor	poor	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 help	obj
5	cross	cross	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 help	xcomp
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 river	det
7	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 cross	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	help	to-infinitive		the poor					vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent poor=Beneficiary clause=Theme
2	cross	infinitive	the poor not said here	the river					vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent river=Patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

To shorten a journey of some fifty versts to a distance of five

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 shorten	mark
2	shorten	shorten	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 journey	det
4	journey	journey	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 shorten	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 versts	case
6	some	some	DET	PronType=Ind	8 versts	det
7	fifty	fifty	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	8 versts	nummod
8	versts	verst	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 journey	nmod
9	to	to	ADP	_	11 distance	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 distance	det
11	distance	distance	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 shorten	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 five	case
13	five	five	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	11 distance	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	shorten	to-infinitive		a journey of some fifty versts				to a distance of five	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent journey=Patient
2	journey			some fifty versts					nom journey «act transitive»: of=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/476-pg22373-part68/e3/