Exam question 3 · Book of Dragons, The Last of the Dragons, part 8: a dragon…

Which publication was the first to abandon the pretence that the creatures were lizards?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: publication, creatures · What happens: be, abandon · To what, where: pretence, lizards

This is exam question 3 of lesson 640 «Book of Dragons, The Last of the Dragons, part 8: a dragon in Effie's eye is followed by a plague of dragons across the land» 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 publication	det
2	publication	publication	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 first	nsubj
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 first	cop
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 first	det
5	first	first	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	root	root
6	to	to	PART	_	7 abandon	mark
7	abandon	abandon	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 first	acl
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 pretence	det
9	pretence	pretence	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 abandon	obj
10	that	that	SCONJ	_	14 lizards	mark
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 creatures	det
12	creatures	creature	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 lizards	nsubj
13	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	14 lizards	cop
14	lizards	lizard	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 abandon	advcl
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 first	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	past	which publication		first property	tree rules
2	abandon	to-infinitive		the pretence		vn leave-51.2 «NP V NP.initial_location»: agent=Theme pretence=Source
3	is a	past	the creatures	lizards		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

the papers once the editor was snatched away

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 papers	det
2	papers	paper	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	once	once	SCONJ	_	7 snatched	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 editor	det
5	editor	editor	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 snatched	nsubj:pass
6	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 snatched	aux:pass
7	snatched	snatch	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 papers	acl
8	away	away	ADV	_	7 snatched	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	snatch away	past · passive	the papers not said here	the editor				away property	vn steal-10.5 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 2

the paper after the editor vanished

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 paper	det
2	paper	paper	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 vanished	nsubj
3	after	after	ADP	_	5 editor	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 editor	det
5	editor	editor	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 paper	nmod
6	vanished	vanish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	vanish	past	the paper after the editor						vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

the newspapers after the editor was carried off

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 newspapers	det
2	newspapers	newspaper	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 carried	nsubj:pass
3	after	after	ADP	_	5 editor	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 editor	det
5	editor	editor	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 newspapers	nmod
6	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 carried	aux:pass
7	carried	carry	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
8	off	off	ADP	_	7 carried	compound:prt

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	carry off	past · passive		the newspapers after the editor					vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 4

the newspaper that employed the vanished editor

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 newspaper	det
2	newspaper	newspaper	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 employed	nsubj
4	employed	employ	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 newspaper	acl:relcl
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 editor	det
6	vanished	vanish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 editor	amod
7	editor	editor	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 employed	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	employ	past	the newspaper	the vanished editor					vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent editor=Theme
2	vanish	participle							vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/640-pg23661-part8/e3/