Exam question 3 · Greek Myths, Oedipus, part 2: the truth comes out and the…

Which prediction did the Pythia communicate to Oedipus at Delphi concerning his parentage?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: prediction, Pythia · What happens: communicate, concern, parent · To what, where: Oedipus, parentage

This is exam question 3 of lesson 549 «Greek Myths, Oedipus, part 2: the truth comes out and the sons quarrel over Thebes» 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	DET	PronType=Int	2 prediction	det
2	prediction	prediction	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 communicate	nsubj
3	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 communicate	aux
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 Pythia	det
5	Pythia	Pythia	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 communicate	nsubj
6	communicate	communicate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
7	to	to	ADP	_	8 Oedipus	case
8	Oedipus	Oedipus	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 communicate	obl
9	at	at	ADP	_	10 Delphi	case
10	Delphi	Delphi	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 Oedipus	nmod
11	concerning	concern	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 communicate	advcl
12	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 parentage	nmod:poss
13	parentage	parentage	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 concerning	obj
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 communicate	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	roles by
1	communicate	past · do-support	which prediction		Oedipus at Delphi	vn correspond-36.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	concern	gerund	which prediction not said here	Pythia's parentage		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus parentage=Experiencer
3	parent		Pythia			nom parentage «state 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

that he would slay his sire and wed his dam

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	that	that	SCONJ	_	4 slay	mark
2	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 slay	nsubj
3	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 slay	aux
4	slay	slay	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 sire	nmod:poss
6	sire	sire	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 slay	obj
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 wed	cc
8	wed	w	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 slay	conj
9	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 dam	nmod:poss
10	dam	dam	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 wed	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	slay	would	he	his sire					vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sire=Patient
2	w	past	he not said here	his dam					tree rules

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

that he would kill his father and marry his mother

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	that	that	SCONJ	_	4 kill	mark
2	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 kill	nsubj
3	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 kill	aux
4	kill	kill	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
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	4 kill	obj
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 marry	cc
8	marry	marry	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 kill	conj
9	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 mother	nmod:poss
10	mother	mother	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 marry	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	kill	would	he	his father					vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent father=Theme
2	marry	infinitive	he not said here	his mother					vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mother=Patient

Option 3

that he would murder Laius and marry Jocaste

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	that	that	SCONJ	_	4 murder	mark
2	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 murder	nsubj
3	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 murder	aux
4	murder	murder	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	Laius	Laius	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 murder	obj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 marry	cc
7	marry	marry	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 murder	conj
8	Jocaste	Jocaste	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 murder	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	murder	would	he	Laius					tree rules
2	marry	infinitive	he not said here						vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient

Option 4

that a terrible fate would come from his own hand against his parents

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	that	that	SCONJ	_	6 come	mark
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 fate	det
3	terrible	terrible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 fate	amod
4	fate	fate	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 come	nsubj
5	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 come	aux
6	come	come	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
7	from	from	ADP	_	10 hand	case
8	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 hand	nmod:poss
9	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 hand	amod
10	hand	hand	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 come	obl
11	against	against	ADP	_	13 parents	case
12	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 parents	nmod:poss
13	parents	parent	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 come	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	come	would	a terrible fate			fate's own hand		against fate's parents	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from hand=Initial_Location

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.

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