Exam question 1 · Uncle Remus, Uncle Remus and the Little Boy, part 25: the…

Which of the following statements correctly describes the old man's reason for declining to relate further narratives?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: reason · What happens: follow, describe, decline, not relate · To what, where: reason, further narratives

This is exam question 1 of lesson 589 «Uncle Remus, Uncle Remus and the Little Boy, part 25: the old man refuses more tales, then offers a ride and a string of sayings and songs» 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	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 describes	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 describes	obl
6	correctly	correctly	ADV	_	7 describes	advmod
7	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
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 reason	nmod:poss
11	's	's	PART	_	10 man	case
12	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 describes	obj
13	for	for	SCONJ	_	14 declining	mark
14	declining	decline	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	12 reason	acl
15	to	to	PART	_	16 relate	mark
16	relate	relate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	14 declining	xcomp
17	further	further	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 narratives	amod
18	narratives	narrative	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 relate	obj
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 describes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	describe	present		the old man's reason	of the following statements; correctly property	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
3	decline	gerund	the old man's reason not said here			vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
4	not relate	to-infinitive	the old man's reason not said here	further narratives		vn involve-107.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent narrative=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

He says the tellers disagree and he won't repeat doubtful versions of the tale

The tree, 15 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	2 says	nsubj
2	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 tellers	det
4	tellers	teller	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 disagree	nsubj
5	disagree	disagree	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 says	ccomp
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 repeat	cc
7	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 repeat	nsubj
8	wo	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	10 repeat	aux
9	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	10 repeat	advmod
10	repeat	repeat	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 says	conj
11	doubtful	doubtful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 versions	amod
12	versions	version	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 repeat	obj
13	of	of	ADP	_	15 tale	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 tale	det
15	tale	tale	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 versions	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	He		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	disagree	present	the tellers		vn correspond-36.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	not repeat	future	he	doubtful versions of the tale	vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent version=Eventuality

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

He observes that the accounts conflict and he will not transmit uncertain versions

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 observes	nsubj
2	observes	observe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	6 conflict	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 accounts	det
5	accounts	account	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 conflict	compound
6	conflict	conflict	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 observes	xcomp
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 transmit	cc
8	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 transmit	nsubj
9	will	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	11 transmit	aux
10	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	11 transmit	advmod
11	transmit	transmit	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 observes	conj
12	uncertain	uncertain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 versions	amod
13	versions	version	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 transmit	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	observe	present	He	accounts conflict					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	not transmit	future	he	uncertain versions					vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent version=Theme

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

He believes the boy is too young and the tales are too lewd for children to hear without their parents present at the fire

The tree, 24 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	2 believes	nsubj
2	believes	believe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 boy	det
4	boy	boy	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 young	nsubj
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 young	cop
6	too	too	ADV	_	7 young	advmod
7	young	young	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 believes	ccomp
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 lewd	cc
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 tales	det
10	tales	tale	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 lewd	nsubj
11	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 lewd	cop
12	too	too	ADV	_	13 lewd	advmod
13	lewd	lewd	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 young	conj
14	for	for	SCONJ	_	17 hear	mark
15	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	17 hear	nsubj
16	to	to	PART	_	17 hear	mark
17	hear	hear	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	13 lewd	advcl
18	without	without	SCONJ	_	21 present	mark
19	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	20 parents	nmod:poss
20	parents	parent	NOUN	Number=Plur	21 present	nsubj
21	present	present	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	17 hear	ccomp
22	at	at	ADP	_	24 fire	case
23	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	24 fire	det
24	fire	fire	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 present	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	other	roles by
1	believe	present	He			vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer
2	is	present	the boy		young property	tree rules
3	is	present	the tales		lewd property	tree rules
4	hear	to-infinitive	children			vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus
5	present	present	children's parents	the fire		vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 4

He notes the versions differ so he declines to pass on uncertain accounts

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 notes	nsubj
2	notes	note	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 versions	det
4	versions	version	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 differ	nsubj
5	differ	differ	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 notes	ccomp
6	so	so	ADV	_	8 declines	advmod
7	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 declines	nsubj
8	declines	decline	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 notes	advcl
9	to	to	PART	_	10 pass	mark
10	pass	pass	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 declines	xcomp
11	on	on	ADP	_	10 pass	compound:prt
12	uncertain	uncertain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 accounts	amod
13	accounts	account	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 pass	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	note	present	He		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	differ	present	the versions		vn correspond-36.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	decline	present	he		vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
4	not pass on	to-infinitive	he not said here	uncertain accounts	vn send-11.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent account=Theme

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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