Exam question 1 · Blue Fairy Book, The Hairy Man, part 4: a swineherd's dogs…

Which action by the prince caused the stone figure to shudder and split into seven parts?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: action, prince · What happens: cause, shudder, split, act · To what, where: stone figure, seven parts

This is exam question 1 of lesson 664 «Blue Fairy Book, The Hairy Man, part 4: a swineherd's dogs catch a hairy thief, and a prince gets three magic apples» 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 action	det
2	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 caused	nsubj
3	by	by	ADP	_	5 prince	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 prince	det
5	prince	prince	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 action	nmod
6	caused	cause	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 figure	det
8	stone	stone	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 figure	compound
9	figure	figure	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 caused	obj
10	to	to	PART	_	11 shudder	mark
11	shudder	shudder	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 figure	acl
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 split	cc
13	split	split	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	11 shudder	conj
14	into	into	ADP	_	16 parts	case
15	seven	seven	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	16 parts	nummod
16	parts	part	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 split	obl
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 caused	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	cause	past	which action by the prince	the stone figure		vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition figure=Patient
2	shudder	to-infinitive	which action by the prince not said here	the stone figure not said here		vn body_internal_states-40.6 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer
3	split	infinitive	which action by the prince not said here		into seven parts result	vn break-45.1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Patient into part=Result
4	act		the prince			nom action «act intransitive»: by=agent

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

Pouring cold water upon its head

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Pouring	pour	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	cold	cold	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 water	amod
3	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Pouring	obj
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	6 head	case
5	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 head	nmod:poss
6	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Pouring	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pour	gerund		cold water				upon water's head	vn preparing-26.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Patient

Option 2

Striking it with the golden staff

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Striking	strike	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	1 Striking	obj
3	with	with	ADP	_	6 staff	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 staff	det
5	golden	golden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 staff	amod
6	staff	staff	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Striking	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	strike	gerund		it				with the golden staff	vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent it=Patient with staff=Instrument

Option 3

Burning it in the palace fire

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Burning	burn	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	1 Burning	obj
3	in	in	ADP	_	6 fire	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 fire	det
5	palace	palace	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 fire	compound
6	fire	fire	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Burning	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	burn	gerund		it		the palace fire			vn light_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent it=Theme

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Brushing the baby's blood upon its wrists

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Brushing	brush	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 baby	det
3	baby	baby	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 blood	nmod:poss
4	's	's	PART	_	3 baby	case
5	blood	blood	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Brushing	obj
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	8 wrists	case
7	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 wrists	nmod:poss
8	wrists	wrist	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Brushing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	brush	gerund		the baby's blood		blood's wrists			vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent blood=Theme upon wrist=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/664-pg2435-part4/e1/