Exam question 2 · Fairy Tales, The Sword of Strength, part 24: the prince is…

By what stratagem did the robber captain preserve his life when the prince attacked him?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: robber captain, prince · What happens: preserve, attack · To what, where: life, captain

This is exam question 2 of lesson 684 «Fairy Tales, The Sword of Strength, part 24: the prince is blinded and goes to the giant» 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=Int	8 preserve	obl
3	stratagem	stratagem	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 what	nsubj
4	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 preserve	aux
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 captain	det
6	robber	robber	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 captain	compound
7	captain	captain	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 preserve	nsubj
8	preserve	preserve	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
9	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 life	nmod:poss
10	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 preserve	obj
11	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	14 attacked	advmod
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 prince	det
13	prince	prince	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 attacked	nsubj
14	attacked	attack	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 preserve	advcl
15	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 attacked	obj
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 preserve	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	preserve	past · do-support	the robber captain	captain's life					vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent life=Beneficiary
2	attack	past	the prince	captain					vn attack-60.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient

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 fastened a cloth about his throat and played dead

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 fastened	nsubj
2	fastened	fasten	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 cloth	det
4	cloth	cloth	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 fastened	obj
5	about	about	ADP	_	7 throat	case
6	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 throat	nmod:poss
7	throat	throat	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 fastened	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 played	cc
9	played	play	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 fastened	conj
10	dead	dead	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 played	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fasten	past	He	a cloth				about his throat	vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cloth=Patient
2	play	past	He not said here	dead					vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dead=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

He wound the shawl of his dead wife about his neck and feigned death, then fled into the forest that very night, leaving the prince unharmed

The tree, 26 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 wound	nsubj
2	wound	woun	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 shawl	det
4	shawl	shawl	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 wound	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 wife	case
6	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 wife	nmod:poss
7	dead	dead	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 wife	amod
8	wife	wife	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 shawl	nmod
9	about	about	ADP	_	11 neck	case
10	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 neck	nmod:poss
11	neck	neck	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 wife	nmod
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 feigned	cc
13	feigned	feign	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 wound	conj
14	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 feigned	obj
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 fled	punct
16	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	17 fled	advmod
17	fled	flee	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 wound	conj
18	into	into	ADP	_	20 forest	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 forest	det
20	forest	forest	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 fled	obl
21	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	23 night	nsubj
22	very	very	ADV	_	23 night	advmod
23	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 forest	appos
24	,	,	PUNCT	_	25 leaving	punct
25	leaving	leave	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	17 fled	advcl
26	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	27 prince	det
27	prince	prince	NOUN	Number=Sing	25 leaving	obj
28	unharmed	unharmed	ADJ	Degree=Pos	25 leaving	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	woun	past	He	the shawl of his dead wife about his neck				tree rules
2	feign	past	He not said here	death				vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent death=Patient
3	flee	past	He not said here		the forest	then		vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme into forest=Initial_Location
4	night		that					tree rules
5	leave	gerund	He not said here	the prince			unharmed property	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent prince=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

He wound the shawl of his dead wife about his neck and feigned death

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 wound	nsubj
2	wound	woun	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 shawl	det
4	shawl	shawl	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 wound	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 wife	case
6	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 wife	nmod:poss
7	dead	dead	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 wife	amod
8	wife	wife	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 shawl	nmod
9	about	about	ADP	_	11 neck	case
10	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 neck	nmod:poss
11	neck	neck	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 wife	nmod
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 feigned	cc
13	feigned	feign	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 wound	conj
14	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 feigned	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	woun	past	He	the shawl of his dead wife about his neck					tree rules
2	feign	past	He not said here	death					vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent death=Patient

Option 4

He wrapped his dead wife's shawl round his neck and lay down

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 wrapped	nsubj
2	wrapped	wrap	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 wife	nmod:poss
4	dead	dead	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 wife	amod
5	wife	wife	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 shawl	nmod:poss
6	's	's	PART	_	5 wife	case
7	shawl	shawl	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 wrapped	obj
8	round	round	ADP	_	10 neck	case
9	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 neck	nmod:poss
10	neck	neck	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 wrapped	obl
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 lay	cc
12	lay	lay	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 wrapped	conj
13	down	down	ADV	_	12 lay	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	wrap	past	He	his dead wife's shawl				round his neck	vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent shawl=Theme
2	lay down	infinitive	He not said here					down property	vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

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/684-pg2435-part24/e2/