Exam question 2 · Gods of Greece and Rome, Hermes the Thief: baby Hermes ste…

By what means did Hermes ascertain whether the shepherd Battus could be trusted?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Hermes · What happens: mean, ascertain, trust · To what, where: shepherd

This is exam question 2 of lesson 518 «Gods of Greece and Rome, Hermes the Thief: baby Hermes steals oxen and turns a greedy shepherd to stone» 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=Rel	6 ascertain	obl
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 what	acl:relcl
4	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 ascertain	aux
5	Hermes	Hermes	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 ascertain	nsubj
6	ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
7	whether	whether	SCONJ	_	13 trusted	mark
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 shepherd	det
9	shepherd	shepherd	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 trusted	nsubj:pass
10	Battus	Battus	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 shepherd	appos
11	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	13 trusted	aux
12	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	13 trusted	aux:pass
13	trusted	trust	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 ascertain	advcl
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	mean	present			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
2	ascertain	past · do-support	Hermes		vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
3	trust	could · passive		the shepherd	vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

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

By disguising himself as a farmer and asking for help

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 disguising	mark
2	disguising	disguise	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	himself	himself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	2 disguising	obj
4	as	as	ADP	_	6 farmer	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 farmer	det
6	farmer	farmer	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 disguising	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 asking	cc
8	asking	ask	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 disguising	conj
9	for	for	ADP	_	10 help	case
10	help	help	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 asking	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	disguise	gerund		himself = he				as a farmer	vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme himself=Destination
2	ask speech: ask	gerund						for help	vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

By a sacred oath

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	4 oath	case
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 oath	det
3	sacred	sacred	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 oath	amod
4	oath	oath	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

By assuming the likeness of Admetus and making an offer

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 assuming	mark
2	assuming	assume	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 likeness	det
4	likeness	likeness	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 assuming	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 Admetus	case
6	Admetus	Admetus	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 likeness	nmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 making	cc
8	making	make	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 assuming	conj
9	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 offer	det
10	offer	offer	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 making	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	assume	gerund		the likeness of Admetus					vn adopt-93.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent likeness=Theme
2	make	gerund		a offer					vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset offer=Product

Option 4

By asking him directly

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 asking	mark
2	asking	ask	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 asking	obj
4	directly	directly	ADV	_	2 asking	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ask speech: ask	gerund			him = he			directly property	vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient

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/518-pg22381-part24/e2/