Exam question 3 · Berens' Myths and Legends, The Seven Against Thebes, part…

By what means did the seer Tiresias declare that the defence of the city could be preserved?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: seer · What happens: mean, do, declare, preserve, defend · To what, where: defence, city · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 3 of lesson 550 «Berens' Myths and Legends, The Seven Against Thebes, part 56: the Argives fight for Thebes and the heroes die» 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	SCONJ	_	3 means	mark
2	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	3 means	nsubj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 means	ccomp
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 seer	det
6	seer	seer	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 declare	nsubj
7	Tiresias	Tiresias	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 seer	appos
8	declare	declare	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 did	parataxis
9	that	that	SCONJ	_	17 preserved	mark
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 defence	det
11	defence	defence	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 preserved	nsubj:pass
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 city	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 city	det
14	city	city	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 defence	nmod
15	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	17 preserved	aux
16	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	17 preserved	aux:pass
17	preserved	preserve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 declare	advcl
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 means	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	mean	present			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	do	past			vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	declare speech: other	present	the seer		vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent
4	preserve	could · passive		the defence of the city	vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Beneficiary
5	defend			the city	nom defence «process transitive»: of=patient

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

By the voluntary death of the youngest of Cadmus' house, offered together with the eldest daughter at dawn on the walls

The tree, 22 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	4 death	case
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 death	det
3	voluntary	voluntary	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 death	amod
4	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 youngest	obl
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 youngest	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 youngest	det
7	youngest	young	ADJ	Degree=Sup	13 offered	nsubj:pass
8	of	of	ADP	_	11 house	case
9	Cadmus	Cadmus	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 house	nmod:poss
10	'	's	PART	_	9 Cadmus	case
11	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 youngest	obl
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 offered	punct
13	offered	offer	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
14	together	together	ADV	_	13 offered	advmod
15	with	with	ADP	_	18 daughter	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 daughter	det
17	eldest	eld	ADJ	Degree=Sup	18 daughter	amod
18	daughter	daughter	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 offered	obl
19	at	at	ADP	_	20 dawn	case
20	dawn	dawn	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 offered	obl
21	on	on	ADP	_	23 walls	case
22	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	23 walls	det
23	walls	wall	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 offered	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	offer	participle · passive		the youngest		the walls	dawn	with the eldest daughter; together property	vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: subject=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

By a voluntary sacrifice of the youngest of the house of Cadmus

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	4 sacrifice	case
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 sacrifice	det
3	voluntary	voluntary	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 sacrifice	amod
4	sacrifice	sacrifice	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 youngest	obl
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 youngest	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 youngest	det
7	youngest	young	ADJ	Degree=Sup	root	root
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 house	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 house	det
10	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 youngest	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 Cadmus	case
12	Cadmus	Cadmus	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 house	nmod

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

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

By abandoning the city to the Argive army and their gods

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 abandoning	mark
2	abandoning	abandon	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 city	det
4	city	city	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 abandoning	obj
5	to	to	ADP	_	8 army	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 army	det
7	Argive	argive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 army	amod
8	army	army	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 abandoning	obl
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 gods	cc
10	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 gods	nmod:poss
11	gods	god	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 army	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	abandon	gerund		the city		the Argive army and army's gods			vn leave-51.2 «NP V NP.initial_location PP.destination»: agent=Theme city=Source to army=Destination

Option 4

By the willing death of the youngest son of the house of Creon

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	4 death	case
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 death	det
3	willing	willing	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 death	amod
4	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 son	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 son	det
7	youngest	young	ADJ	Degree=Sup	8 son	amod
8	son	son	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 death	nmod
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 house	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 house	det
11	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 son	nmod
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 Creon	case
13	Creon	Creon	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 house	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	die		the youngest son of the house of Creon						nom death «event intransitive»: of=agent

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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