Exam question 3 · Norse Tales, Prince Sigurd, part 55: Sigurd beats three gi…

Which properties were ascribed to the horse and to the twig in Helga's account?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Helga · What happens: ascribe, account · To what, where: properties

This is exam question 3 of lesson 715 «Norse Tales, Prince Sigurd, part 55: Sigurd beats three giantesses, then finds the horse Gullfaxi and the sword Gunnfjoder» 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 properties	det
2	properties	property	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 ascribed	nsubj:pass
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 ascribed	aux:pass
4	ascribed	ascribe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 horse	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 horse	det
7	horse	horse	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 ascribed	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 twig	cc
9	to	to	ADP	_	11 twig	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 twig	det
11	twig	twig	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 horse	conj
12	in	in	ADP	_	15 account	case
13	Helga	Helga	PROPN	Number=Sing	15 account	nmod:poss
14	's	's	PART	_	13 Helga	case
15	account	account	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 twig	nmod
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 ascribed	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascribe	past · passive		which properties				to the horse and the twig in Helga's account	tree rules
2	account		Helga						nom account «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 · ← Mova's choice

The horse was a golden gift; the twig, when thrown, made a whole forest rise up behind the rider

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 horse	det
2	horse	horse	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 gift	nsubj
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 gift	cop
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 gift	det
5	golden	golden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 gift	amod
6	gift	gift	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	;	;	PUNCT	_	9 twig	punct
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 twig	det
9	twig	twig	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 gift	conj
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 thrown	punct
11	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	12 thrown	advmod
12	thrown	throw	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 twig	acl:relcl
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 made	punct
14	made	make	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	18 rise	conj
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 forest	det
16	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 forest	amod
17	forest	forest	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 made	obj
18	rise	rise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 gift	parataxis
19	up	up	ADP	_	18 rise	compound:prt
20	behind	behind	ADP	_	22 rider	case
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 rider	det
22	rider	rider	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 rise	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	is a	past	the horse	a golden gift and the twig		tree rules
2	throw	participle				vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer
3	make	past		a whole forest		vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset forest=Product
4	rise up	present			the rider	vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent behind rider=Location

Option 2

The horse was given by a king long ago; the twig could raise a dark wood from bare ground

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 horse	det
2	horse	horse	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 given	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 given	aux:pass
4	given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 king	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 king	det
7	king	king	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 given	obl
8	long	long	ADV	Degree=Pos	9 ago	advmod
9	ago	ago	ADV	_	4 given	advmod
10	;	;	PUNCT	_	14 raise	punct
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 twig	det
12	twig	twig	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 raise	nsubj
13	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	14 raise	aux
14	raise	raise	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 given	conj
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 wood	det
16	dark	dark	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 wood	amod
17	wood	wood	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 raise	obj
18	from	from	ADP	_	20 ground	case
19	bare	bare	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 ground	amod
20	ground	ground	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 raise	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	past · passive	a king	the horse				ago property	vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme
2	raise	could	the twig	a dark wood		bare ground			vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent wood=Theme from ground=Destination

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The horse was precious; the twig created a forest

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 horse	det
2	horse	horse	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 precious	nsubj
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 precious	cop
4	precious	precious	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	;	;	PUNCT	_	8 created	punct
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 twig	det
7	twig	twig	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 created	nsubj
8	created	create	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 precious	conj
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 forest	det
10	forest	forest	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 created	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	the horse					precious property	tree rules
2	create	past	the twig	a forest					vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent forest=Result

Option 4

The horse could fly; the stick could burn

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 horse	det
2	horse	horse	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 fly	nsubj
3	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 fly	aux
4	fly	fly	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	;	;	PUNCT	_	9 burn	punct
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 stick	det
7	stick	stick	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 burn	nsubj
8	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	9 burn	aux
9	burn	burn	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 fly	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fly	could	the horse						vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	burn	could	the stick						vn light_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=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.

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