Exam question 4 · Tales of Many Lands, The Three Robes, part 1: the ogress p…

Describe the chief circumstance that delayed the embassy's voyage and rendered its course uncertain.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, chief circumstance, embassy · What happens: describe, delay, render, voyage · To what, where: chief circumstance, voyage, course

This is exam question 4 of lesson 697 «Tales of Many Lands, The Three Robes, part 1: the ogress pays the youth, then the minister sets out to find a queen» 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	Describe	describe	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 circumstance	det
3	chief	chief	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 circumstance	amod
4	circumstance	circumstance	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Describe	obj
5	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 delayed	nsubj
6	delayed	delay	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 circumstance	acl:relcl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 embassy	det
8	embassy	embassy	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 voyage	nmod:poss
9	's	's	PART	_	8 embassy	case
10	voyage	voyage	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 delayed	obj
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 rendered	cc
12	rendered	render	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 delayed	conj
13	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 course	nmod:poss
14	course	course	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 rendered	obj
15	uncertain	uncertain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 rendered	xcomp
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Describe	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	describe	imperative	you not said here	the chief circumstance		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent circumstance=Theme
2	delay	past	the chief circumstance	the embassy's voyage		vn delay-53.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent voyage=Source
3	render	past	the chief circumstance not said here	voyage's course	uncertain property	vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent course=Theme
4	voyage		the embassy			nom voyage «act 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 · ← Mova's choice

A thick fog descended upon the vessel and it drifted in darkness for a whole month before the crew sighted land at last

The tree, 23 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 fog	det
2	thick	thick	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 fog	amod
3	fog	fog	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 drifted	nsubj
4	descended	descend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 fog	acl
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 vessel	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 vessel	det
7	vessel	vessel	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 descended	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 drifted	cc
9	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 drifted	nsubj
10	drifted	drift	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
11	in	in	ADP	_	12 darkness	case
12	darkness	darkness	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 drifted	obl
13	for	for	ADP	_	16 month	case
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 month	det
15	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 month	amod
16	month	month	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 drifted	obl
17	before	before	SCONJ	_	20 sighted	mark
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 crew	det
19	crew	crew	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 sighted	nsubj
20	sighted	sight	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 drifted	advcl
21	land	land	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 sighted	obj
22	at	at	ADP	_	23 last	case
23	last	last	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 sighted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	descend	participle		a thick fog not said here			upon the vessel	vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	drift	past	a thick fog		darkness	month		vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in darkness=Trajectory
3	sight	past	the crew	land	last			vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer land=Stimulus

Option 2

A dense sea mist fell and the crew were lost for many weeks

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 mist	det
2	dense	dense	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 mist	amod
3	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 mist	compound
4	mist	mist	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 fell	nsubj
5	fell	fall	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 lost	cc
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 crew	det
8	crew	crew	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 lost	nsubj:pass
9	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 lost	aux:pass
10	lost	lose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 fell	conj
11	for	for	ADP	_	13 weeks	case
12	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 weeks	amod
13	weeks	week	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 lost	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fall	past	a dense sea mist						vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	lose	past · passive		the crew			week		vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

A thick fog descended and the vessel drifted in darkness for a whole month

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 fog	det
2	thick	thick	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 fog	amod
3	fog	fog	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	descended	descend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 fog	acl
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 vessel	cc
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 vessel	det
7	vessel	vessel	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 fog	conj
8	drifted	drift	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 fog	acl
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 darkness	case
10	darkness	darkness	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 drifted	obl
11	for	for	ADP	_	14 month	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 month	det
13	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 month	amod
14	month	month	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 drifted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	descend	participle		a thick fog and the vessel not said here					vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	drift	participle		a thick fog and the vessel not said here		darkness	month		vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in darkness=Trajectory

Option 4

The crew lost their way when a thick mist covered the sea

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 crew	det
2	crew	crew	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 lost	nsubj
3	lost	lose	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 way	nmod:poss
5	way	way	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 lost	obj
6	when	when	SCONJ	_	10 covered	mark
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 mist	det
8	thick	thick	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 mist	amod
9	mist	mist	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 covered	nsubj
10	covered	cover	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 lost	advcl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 sea	det
12	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 covered	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lose	past	the crew	their way					vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Eventuality
2	cover	past	a thick mist	the sea					vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme sea=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.

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