Exam question 4 · Estonian Folk Tales, Tiidu, part 18: Tiidu sails to Kungla…

Evaluate the narrator's use of the scullion's ladle as a symbol within the passage's moral argument.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, narrator, passage · What happens: evaluate, use, argue · To what, where: use, ladle

This is exam question 4 of lesson 678 «Estonian Folk Tales, Tiidu, part 18: Tiidu sails to Kungla and becomes a scullion» 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	Evaluate	evaluate	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 narrator	det
3	narrator	narrator	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 use	nmod:poss
4	's	's	PART	_	3 narrator	case
5	use	use	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Evaluate	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	10 ladle	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 scullion	det
8	scullion	scullion	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 ladle	nmod:poss
9	's	's	PART	_	8 scullion	case
10	ladle	ladle	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 use	nmod
11	as	as	ADP	_	13 symbol	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 symbol	det
13	symbol	symbol	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Evaluate	obl
14	within	within	ADP	_	19 argument	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 passage	det
16	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 argument	nmod:poss
17	's	's	PART	_	16 passage	case
18	moral	moral	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 argument	amod
19	argument	argument	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Evaluate	obl
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Evaluate	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	evaluate	imperative	you not said here	the narrator's use of the scullion's ladle	as a symbol; within the passage's moral argument	vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP PP.value»: agent=Agent use=Theme as symbol=Value
2	use		the narrator	the scullion's ladle		nom use «act transitive»: poss=agent of=patient
3	argue		the passage			nom argument «communication transitive»: poss=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 · ✓ the right answer

It symbolises humble labour exchanged for artistic talent

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 symbolises	nsubj
2	symbolises	symbolis	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	humble	humble	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 labour	amod
4	labour	labour	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 symbolises	obj
5	exchanged	exchange	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 labour	acl
6	for	for	ADP	_	8 talent	case
7	artistic	artistic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 talent	amod
8	talent	talent	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 exchanged	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	symbolis	present	It	humble labour					tree rules
2	exchange	participle		humble labour not said here				for artistic talent	vn exchange-13.6.1 «NP V NP PP.co-theme»: agent=Agent for talent=Co-Theme

Option 2

It symbolises wealth gained through hard, honest work

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 symbolises	nsubj
2	symbolises	symbolis	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	wealth	wealth	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 symbolises	obj
4	gained	gain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 wealth	acl
5	through	through	ADP	_	9 work	case
6	hard	hard	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 work	amod
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 hard	punct
8	honest	honest	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 work	amod
9	work	work	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 gained	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	symbolis	present	It	wealth					tree rules
2	gain	participle		wealth not said here		hard honest work			vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute

Option 3

It symbolises the cruel exchange of a gifted musician's soul for a life of meaningless kitchen drudgery

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 symbolises	nsubj
2	symbolises	symbolis	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 exchange	det
4	cruel	cruel	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 exchange	amod
5	exchange	exchange	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 symbolises	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	11 soul	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 musician	det
8	gifted	gift	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 musician	amod
9	musician	musician	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 soul	nmod:poss
10	's	's	PART	_	9 musician	case
11	soul	soul	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 exchange	nmod
12	for	for	ADP	_	14 life	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 life	det
14	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 symbolises	obl
15	of	of	ADP	_	18 drudgery	case
16	meaningless	meaningless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 drudgery	amod
17	kitchen	kitchen	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 drudgery	compound
18	drudgery	drudgery	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 life	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	symbolis	present	It	the cruel exchange of a gifted musician's soul	for a life of meaningless kitchen drudgery	tree rules
2	gift	participle				vn contribute-13.2 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent
3	exchange			a gifted musician's soul		nom exchange «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

It signifies the merchant's power over servants and his cruelty

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 signifies	nsubj
2	signifies	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 merchant	det
4	merchant	merchant	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 power	nmod:poss
5	's	's	PART	_	4 merchant	case
6	power	power	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 signifies	obj
7	over	over	ADP	_	8 servants	case
8	servants	servant	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 signifies	obl
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 cruelty	cc
10	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 cruelty	nmod:poss
11	cruelty	cruelty	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 servants	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signify	present	It	the merchant's power		servants and his cruelty			vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot power=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/678-pg2435-part18/e4/