Exam question 1 · German Popular Stories, The Cottager And His Cat, part 1:…

Which statement accurately describes how the youth came into possession of the cat?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: statement, youth · What happens: describe, come, possess · To what, where: possession, cat

This is exam question 1 of lesson 689 «German Popular Stories, The Cottager And His Cat, part 1: a miser's son obeys a strange dream and buys a 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	Which	which	DET	PronType=Int	2 statement	det
2	statement	statement	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 describes	nsubj
3	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	4 describes	advmod
4	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	how	how	ADV	PronType=Int	8 came	advmod
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 youth	det
7	youth	youth	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 came	nsubj
8	came	come	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 describes	ccomp
9	into	into	ADP	_	10 possession	case
10	possession	possession	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 came	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 cat	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 cat	det
13	cat	cat	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 possession	nmod
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 describes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	describe	present	which statement			accurately property	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	come	past	the youth		possession of the cat		vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme into possession=Initial_Location
3	possess			the cat			nom possession «act transitive»: of=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 · ← Mova's choice

He purchased it for six shillings from the forest household after being offered it by the old woman, who had kept it for years

The tree, 24 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 purchased	nsubj
2	purchased	purchase	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 purchased	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	6 shillings	case
5	six	six	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	6 shillings	nummod
6	shillings	shilling	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 purchased	obl
7	from	from	ADP	_	10 household	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 household	det
9	forest	forest	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 household	compound
10	household	household	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 purchased	obl
11	after	after	SCONJ	_	13 offered	mark
12	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	13 offered	aux:pass
13	offered	offer	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 purchased	advcl
14	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 offered	obj
15	by	by	ADP	_	18 woman	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 woman	det
17	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 woman	amod
18	woman	woman	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 offered	obl
19	,	,	PUNCT	_	22 kept	punct
20	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	22 kept	nsubj:pass
21	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	22 kept	aux
22	kept	keep	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	18 woman	acl:relcl
23	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	22 kept	obj
24	for	for	ADP	_	25 years	case
25	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	22 kept	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	purchase	past	He	it	the forest household		for six shillings	vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent it=Theme for shilling=Asset
2	offer	gerund · passive	the old woman	household				vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent it=Theme
3	keep	past · perfect · passive		the old woman		year		vn sustain-55.6-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Theme it=Attribute

Option 2

He was given it as a gift by the old woman of the hut

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	3 given	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 given	aux:pass
3	given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 given	obj
5	as	as	ADP	_	7 gift	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 gift	det
7	gift	gift	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 given	obl
8	by	by	ADP	_	11 woman	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 woman	det
10	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 woman	amod
11	woman	woman	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 given	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 hut	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 hut	det
14	hut	hut	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 woman	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	past · passive	the old woman of the hut	He				as a gift	vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent subject=Recipient it=Theme

Option 3

He paid six shillings to a neighbouring farmer's wife in town

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 paid	nsubj
2	paid	pay	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	six	six	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 shillings	nummod
4	shillings	shilling	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 paid	obj
5	to	to	ADP	_	10 wife	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 farmer	det
7	neighbouring	neighbour	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 farmer	amod
8	farmer	farmer	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 wife	nmod:poss
9	's	's	PART	_	8 farmer	case
10	wife	wife	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 paid	obl
11	in	in	ADP	_	12 town	case
12	town	town	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 wife	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pay	past	He	six shillings				to a neighbouring farmer's wife in town	vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shilling=Asset
2	neighbour	gerund							tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

He purchased it for six shillings from the forest household

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 purchased	nsubj
2	purchased	purchase	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 purchased	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	6 shillings	case
5	six	six	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	6 shillings	nummod
6	shillings	shilling	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 purchased	obl
7	from	from	ADP	_	10 household	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 household	det
9	forest	forest	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 household	compound
10	household	household	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 purchased	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	purchase	past	He	it		the forest household		for six shillings	vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent it=Theme for shilling=Asset

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/689-pg2435-part29/e1/