Exam question 2 · Eastern Tales, Abu Nowas, part 47: Abu Nowas fakes his wif…

By what means does the wife ensure that the Sultana believes her account of the death?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: wife, Sultana · What happens: mean, ensure, believe, account · To what, where: account, death

This is exam question 2 of lesson 707 «Eastern Tales, Abu Nowas, part 47: Abu Nowas fakes his wife's death and tricks the Sultan out of gold» 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	7 ensure	obl
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 what	acl:relcl
4	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 ensure	aux
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 wife	det
6	wife	wife	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 ensure	nsubj
7	ensure	ensure	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
8	that	that	SCONJ	_	11 believes	mark
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 Sultana	det
10	Sultana	Sultana	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 believes	nsubj
11	believes	believe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 ensure	ccomp
12	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 account	nmod:poss
13	account	account	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 believes	obj
14	of	of	ADP	_	16 death	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 death	det
16	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 account	nmod
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 ensure	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	mean	present			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
2	ensure	present · do-support	the wife		vn ensure-99 «NP V that S»: agent=Precondition clause=Theme
3	believe	present	the Sultana	wife's account of the death	vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer account=Stimulus
4	account		wife	the death	nom account «communication transitive»: poss=agent 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

She shows her face.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 shows	nsubj
2	shows	show	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 face	nmod:poss
4	face	face	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 shows	obj
5	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 shows	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	show	present	She	her face					vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent face=Recipient

Option 2

She lies still and lets the Sultana see her stiff body.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 lies	nsubj
2	lies	lie	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	still	still	ADV	_	2 lies	advmod
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 lets	cc
5	lets	let	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 lies	conj
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Sultana	det
7	Sultana	Sultana	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 see	nsubj
8	see	see	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 lets	ccomp
9	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 body	nmod:poss
10	stiff	stiff	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 body	amod
11	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 see	obj
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 lies	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	lie	present	She		still	vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	let	present	She not said here			tree rules
3	see	past	the Sultana	her stiff body		vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer body=Stimulus

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

She appears in sackcloth and describes the sale of all their possessions.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 appears	nsubj
2	appears	appear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	4 sackcloth	case
4	sackcloth	sackcloth	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 appears	obl
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 describes	cc
6	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 appears	conj
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 sale	det
8	sale	sale	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 describes	obj
9	of	of	ADP	_	12 possessions	case
10	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	12 possessions	det:predet
11	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 possessions	nmod:poss
12	possessions	possession	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 sale	nmod
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 appears	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	appear	present	She		sackcloth	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in sackcloth=Location
2	describe	present	She not said here	the sale of their possessions		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent sale=Theme
3	possess		their = they			nom possession «act transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

She wears sackcloth.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 wears	nsubj
2	wears	wear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	sackcloth	sackcloth	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 wears	obj
4	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 wears	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	wear	present	She	sackcloth					vn wipe_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent sackcloth=Source

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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