Exam question 1 · Russian Folk-Tales, The Pope and the Old Man: the Pope fai…

In what manner does the Pope respond when the old man inquires, on the gallows, as to who consumed the loaves?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: old man · What happens: do, inquire, consume · To what, where: Pope respond, manner, gallows, loaves

This is exam question 1 of lesson 487 «Russian Folk-Tales, The Pope and the Old Man: the Pope fails to revive the Princess, is nearly hanged, and is saved by the old man» 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	In	in	ADP	_	3 manner	case
2	what	what	DET	PronType=Int	3 manner	det
3	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 does	obl
4	does	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 respond	det
6	Pope	Pope	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 respond	compound
7	respond	respond	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 does	obj
8	when	when	SCONJ	_	12 inquires	mark
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 man	det
10	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 man	amod
11	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 inquires	nsubj
12	inquires	inquire	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 does	advcl
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 gallows	punct
14	on	on	ADP	_	16 gallows	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 gallows	det
16	gallows	gallows	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 inquires	obj
17	,	,	PUNCT	_	21 consumed	punct
18	as	as	SCONJ	_	21 consumed	mark
19	to	to	ADP	_	18 as	fixed
20	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	21 consumed	nsubj
21	consumed	consume	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	12 inquires	conj
22	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	23 loaves	det
23	loaves	loaf	NOUN	Number=Plur	21 consumed	obj
24	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 does	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	do	present		the Pope respond	what manner	vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent respond=Eventuality
2	inquire speech: other	present	the old man	the gallows		vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent gallows=Recipient
3	consume	past		the loaves		vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent loaf=Asset

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 stays silent and refuses to answer the old man's question

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 stays	nsubj
2	stays	stay	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	silent	silent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 stays	xcomp
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 refuses	cc
5	refuses	refuse	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 stays	conj
6	to	to	PART	_	7 answer	mark
7	answer	answer	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 refuses	xcomp
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 man	det
9	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 man	amod
10	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 question	nmod:poss
11	's	's	PART	_	10 man	case
12	question	question	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 answer	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	stay	present	He		silent property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	refuse	present	He not said here			vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
3	not answer speech: assert	to-infinitive	He not said here	the old man's question		vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent question=Eventuality
4	question		the old man			nom question «communication transitive»: poss=agent

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

He keeps denying it and asks the King for mercy in court

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 keeps	nsubj
2	keeps	keep	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	denying	deny	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 keeps	xcomp
4	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 denying	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 asks	cc
6	asks	ask	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 keeps	conj
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 King	det
8	King	King	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 asks	obj
9	for	for	ADP	_	10 mercy	case
10	mercy	mercy	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 asks	obl
11	in	in	ADP	_	12 court	case
12	court	court	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 mercy	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	other	roles by
1	keep	present	He				tree rules
2	deny	gerund	He not said here	it			vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality
3	ask speech: ask	present	He not said here		the King	for mercy in court	vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent king=Recipient

Option 3

He repeatedly denies the act, invoking Heaven as witness, and begs the old man for mercy and forgiveness

The tree, 18 words

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 denies	nsubj
2	repeatedly	repeatedly	ADV	_	3 denies	advmod
3	denies	deny	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 act	det
5	act	act	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 denies	obj
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 invoking	punct
7	invoking	invoke	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 denies	advcl
8	Heaven	Heaven	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 invoking	obj
9	as	as	ADP	_	10 witness	case
10	witness	witness	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 invoking	obl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 begs	punct
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 begs	cc
13	begs	beg	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 denies	conj
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 man	det
15	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 man	amod
16	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 begs	obj
17	for	for	ADP	_	18 mercy	case
18	mercy	mercy	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 begs	obl
19	and	and	CCONJ	_	20 forgiveness	cc
20	forgiveness	forgiveness	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 mercy	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	other	roles by
1	deny	present	He	the act		repeatedly property	vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent act=Eventuality
2	invoke	gerund	He not said here	Heaven		as witness	tree rules
3	beg speech: request	present	He not said here		the old man	for mercy and forgiveness	vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.Topic»: agent=Agent man=Recipient for mercy=Topic

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

He repeatedly denies the act, invoking Heaven as witness

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 denies	nsubj
2	repeatedly	repeatedly	ADV	_	3 denies	advmod
3	denies	deny	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 act	det
5	act	act	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 denies	obj
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 invoking	punct
7	invoking	invoke	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 denies	advcl
8	Heaven	Heaven	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 invoking	obj
9	as	as	ADP	_	10 witness	case
10	witness	witness	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 invoking	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	deny	present	He	the act				repeatedly property	vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent act=Eventuality
2	invoke	gerund	He not said here	Heaven				as witness	tree rules

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/487-pg22373-part79/e1/