Exam question 1 · The Book of Dragons, The Last of the Dragons: Johnnie and…

Pursuant to the text, what was the principal reason the mayor declined to remit the reward?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: text, mayor · What happens: be, decline, not remit · To what, where: principal reason, reward

This is exam question 1 of lesson 653 «The Book of Dragons, The Last of the Dragons: Johnnie and Tina trick the dragon back into chains, and he becomes the first cat» 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	Pursuant	pursuant	ADV	_	4 text	advmod
2	to	to	ADP	_	4 text	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 text	det
4	text	text	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 reason	punct
6	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	10 reason	nsubj
7	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 reason	cop
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 reason	det
9	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 reason	amod
10	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 text	acl:relcl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 mayor	det
12	mayor	mayor	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 declined	nsubj
13	declined	decline	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 reason	acl:relcl
14	to	to	PART	_	15 remit	mark
15	remit	remit	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	13 declined	xcomp
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 reward	det
17	reward	reward	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 remit	obj
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 text	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	is a	past	the text	the principal reason	tree rules
2	decline	past	the mayor	the principal reason not said here	tree rules
3	not remit	to-infinitive	the mayor not said here	the reward	vn contribute-13.2 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent reward=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 held that the dragon, not the children, had subdued the giant, having been told so by his own clerks at the hall

The tree, 23 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 held	nsubj
2	held	hold	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	12 subdued	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 dragon	det
5	dragon	dragon	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 subdued	nsubj:pass
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 children	punct
7	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	9 children	advmod
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 children	det
9	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 dragon	conj
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 dragon	punct
11	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	12 subdued	aux
12	subdued	subdue	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 held	advcl
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 giant	det
14	giant	giant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 subdued	xcomp
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 told	punct
16	having	have	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	18 told	aux
17	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	18 told	aux:pass
18	told	tell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 subdued	conj
19	so	so	ADV	_	18 told	advmod
20	by	by	ADP	_	23 clerks	case
21	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	23 clerks	nmod:poss
22	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	23 clerks	amod
23	clerks	clerk	NOUN	Number=Plur	18 told	obl
24	at	at	ADP	_	26 hall	case
25	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	26 hall	det
26	hall	hall	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 told	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	hold	past	He				vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	subdue	past · perfect · passive		the dragon and the children		giant property	vn subjugate-42.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient
3	tell speech: assert	gerund · perfect · passive	his own clerks		the hall		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

He held that the dragon, not the children, had subdued the giant, and so the reward was not theirs to claim

The tree, 21 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 held	nsubj
2	held	hold	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	12 subdued	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 dragon	det
5	dragon	dragon	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 subdued	nsubj:pass
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 children	punct
7	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	9 children	advmod
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 children	det
9	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 dragon	conj
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 dragon	punct
11	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	12 subdued	aux
12	subdued	subdue	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 held	advcl
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 giant	det
14	giant	giant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 subdued	xcomp
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	22 theirs	punct
16	and	and	CCONJ	_	22 theirs	cc
17	so	so	ADV	_	22 theirs	advmod
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 reward	det
19	reward	reward	NOUN	Number=Sing	22 theirs	nsubj
20	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	22 theirs	cop
21	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	22 theirs	advmod
22	theirs	their	PRON	Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 held	parataxis
23	to	to	PART	_	24 claim	mark
24	claim	claim	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 held	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	hold	past	He			vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	subdue	past · perfect · passive		the dragon and the children	giant property	vn subjugate-42.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient
3	not is a	past	the reward	dragon		tree rules
4	claim speech: other	to-infinitive	He not said here			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

He held that the dragon, not the children, had subdued the giant

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 held	nsubj
2	held	hold	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	12 subdued	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 dragon	det
5	dragon	dragon	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 subdued	nsubj:pass
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 children	punct
7	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	9 children	advmod
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 children	det
9	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 dragon	conj
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 dragon	punct
11	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	12 subdued	aux
12	subdued	subdue	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 held	advcl
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 giant	det
14	giant	giant	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 subdued	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hold	past	He						vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	subdue	past · perfect · passive		the dragon and the children					tree rules

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

He claimed the dragon, not the children, had defeated the king

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 claimed	nsubj
2	claimed	claim	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 dragon	det
4	dragon	dragon	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 claimed	obj
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 children	punct
6	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	8 children	advmod
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 children	det
8	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 dragon	conj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 defeated	punct
10	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	11 defeated	aux
11	defeated	defeat	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	2 claimed	conj
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 king	det
13	king	king	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 defeated	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	claim speech: other	past	He	the dragon and the children					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent dragon=Topic
2	defeat	past · perfect	He not said here	the king					tree rules

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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