Exam question 3 · Europe's Fairy Book, Tiidu the Piper, part 17: a wise maid…

By what means did the old man recommend that Tiidu should earn his livelihood?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: old man, Tiidu · What happens: mean, recommend, earn · To what, where: livelihood

This is exam question 3 of lesson 677 «Europe's Fairy Book, Tiidu the Piper, part 17: a wise maiden is carried off, and lazy Tiidu finds his pipes» 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	By	by	ADP	_	2 what	case
2	what	what	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 recommend	obl
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 what	acl:relcl
4	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 recommend	aux
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 man	det
6	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 man	amod
7	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 recommend	nsubj
8	recommend	recommend	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
9	that	that	SCONJ	_	12 earn	mark
10	Tiidu	Tiidu	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 earn	nsubj
11	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	12 earn	aux
12	earn	earn	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 recommend	ccomp
13	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 livelihood	nmod:poss
14	livelihood	livelihood	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 earn	obj
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 recommend	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	mean	present			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
2	recommend	past · do-support	the old man		vn say-37.7-1-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	earn	should	Tiidu	Tiidu's livelihood	vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent livelihood=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 · ← Mova's choice

by traveling from village to village playing for coins in the square

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	by	by	SCONJ	_	2 traveling	mark
2	traveling	travel	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	4 village	case
4	village	village	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 traveling	obl
5	to	to	ADP	_	6 village	case
6	village	village	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 traveling	obl
7	playing	play	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 traveling	conj
8	for	for	ADP	_	9 coins	case
9	coins	coin	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 playing	obl
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 square	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 square	det
12	square	square	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 playing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	travel	gerund				village		to village	vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to village=Destination
2	play	gerund				the square		for coins	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: agent=Agent for coin=Eventuality

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

by playing pipes for payment

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	by	by	SCONJ	_	2 playing	mark
2	playing	play	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	root	root
3	pipes	pipe	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 playing	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 payment	case
5	payment	payment	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 playing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	play	gerund		pipes				for payment	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: agent=Agent pipe=Theme for payment=Eventuality

Option 3

by selling bread at the market

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	by	by	SCONJ	_	2 selling	mark
2	selling	sell	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	bread	bread	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 selling	obj
4	at	at	ADP	_	6 market	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 market	det
6	market	market	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 selling	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sell	gerund		bread		the market			vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent bread=Theme at market=Asset

Option 4

by working in the lord's fields

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	by	by	SCONJ	_	2 working	mark
2	working	work	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	7 fields	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 lord	det
5	lord	lord	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 fields	nmod:poss
6	's	's	PART	_	5 lord	case
7	fields	field	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 working	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	work	gerund						in the lord's fields	vn employment-95.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in field=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/677-pg2435-part17/e3/