Exam question 1 · Uncle Remus, A Plantation Witch, part 1: the boy hears of…

With reference to the passage, to what phenomenon does the narrator attribute the tangled knots in the horse's mane?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: narrator · What happens: attribute, tangle · To what, where: passage, mane

This is exam question 1 of lesson 586 «Uncle Remus, A Plantation Witch, part 1: the boy hears of witch-stirrups and a witch who loses his skin» 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	With	with	ADP	_	2 reference	case
2	reference	reference	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	to	to	ADP	_	5 passage	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 passage	det
5	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reference	nmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 what	punct
7	to	to	ADP	_	8 what	case
8	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	13 attribute	obj
9	phenomenon	phenomenon	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 does	nsubj
10	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 attribute	aux
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 narrator	det
12	narrator	narrator	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 attribute	nsubj
13	attribute	attribute	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 passage	acl:relcl
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 knots	det
15	tangled	tangle	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	16 knots	amod
16	knots	knot	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 attribute	obj
17	in	in	ADP	_	21 mane	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 horse	det
19	horse	horse	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 mane	nmod:poss
20	's	's	PART	_	19 horse	case
21	mane	mane	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 attribute	obl
22	?	?	PUNCT	_	2 reference	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	attribute	present · do-support	the narrator	the passage		the horse's mane			tree rules
2	tangle	participle							tree rules

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

Witch-stirrups left by the cunjun man who rides the horse down the lane each night

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Witch	witch	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 stirrups	compound
2	-	-	PUNCT	_	1 Witch	punct
3	stirrups	stirrup	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	left	leave	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 stirrups	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	8 man	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 man	det
7	cunjun	cunjun	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 man	compound
8	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 left	obl
9	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 rides	nsubj
10	rides	ride	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 man	acl:relcl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 horse	det
12	horse	horse	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 rides	obj
13	down	down	ADP	_	15 lane	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 lane	det
15	lane	lane	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 rides	obl
16	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	17 night	det
17	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 rides	obl:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	leave	participle		Witch stirrups not said here				by the cunjun man	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent by man=Location
2	ride	present	the cunjun man	the horse		the lane	night		vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent horse=Theme down lane=Trajectory

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Witch-stirrups produced by nocturnal riding

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Witch	witch	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 stirrups	compound
2	-	-	PUNCT	_	1 Witch	punct
3	stirrups	stirrup	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	produced	produce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 stirrups	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 riding	case
6	nocturnal	nocturnal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 riding	amod
7	riding	riding	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 produced	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	produce	participle		Witch stirrups not said here				by nocturnal riding	vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 3

Knots left by a nighttime storm of wind

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Knots	knot	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
2	left	leave	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Knots	acl
3	by	by	ADP	_	6 storm	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 storm	det
5	nighttime	nighttime	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 storm	compound
6	storm	storm	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 left	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 wind	case
8	wind	wind	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 storm	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	leave	participle		Knots not said here				by a nighttime storm of wind	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent by storm=Location
2	storm		wind						nom storm «phenomenon intransitive»: of=agent

Option 4

Snarls made by a horse rubbing on fence wire

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Snarls	snarl	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
2	made	make	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Snarls	acl
3	by	by	ADP	_	5 horse	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 horse	det
5	horse	horse	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 made	obl:agent
6	rubbing	rub	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 horse	acl
7	on	on	ADP	_	9 wire	case
8	fence	fence	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 wire	compound
9	wire	wire	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 rubbing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	make	participle		Snarls not said here					vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset
2	rub	gerund	a horse not said here			fence wire			vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme on wire=Destination

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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