Exam question 1 · Sicilian Tales, Maria and the King, part 1: a clever girl…

Which of the following best describes the action by which Maria first evades the monarch's custody?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Maria · What happens: follow, describe, evade · To what, where: action, custody

This is exam question 1 of lesson 723 «Sicilian Tales, Maria and the King, part 1: a clever girl outwits the king and saves her father» 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	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 describes	obj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 best	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 best	det
4	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 best	case
5	best	good	ADJ	Degree=Sup	6 describes	nmod
6	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 action	det
8	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 describes	obj
9	by	by	ADP	_	10 which	case
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 evades	obl
11	Maria	Maria	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 evades	nsubj
12	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	13 evades	advmod
13	evades	evade	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 action	acl:relcl
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 monarch	det
15	monarch	monarch	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 custody	nmod:poss
16	's	's	PART	_	15 monarch	case
17	custody	custody	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 evades	obj
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 describes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	describe	present		the action	of the best	tree rules
3	evade	present	Maria	the monarch's custody	by the action; first property	vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent custody=Location

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 quits the palace at dawn, hiding her departure from the court

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 quits	nsubj
2	quits	quit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 palace	det
4	palace	palace	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 quits	obj
5	at	at	ADP	_	6 dawn	case
6	dawn	dawn	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 quits	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 hiding	punct
8	hiding	hide	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 quits	advcl
9	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 departure	nmod:poss
10	departure	departure	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 hiding	obj
11	from	from	ADP	_	13 court	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 court	det
13	court	court	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 hiding	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	roles by
1	quit	present	She	the palace		dawn	vn resign-10.11-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent palace=Source
2	hide	gerund	She not said here	her departure	the court		vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent departure=Patient from court=Beneficiary
3	depart		her = she				nom departure «act intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

She escapes the garden by climbing down a rope unseen by the guards

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 escapes	nsubj
2	escapes	escape	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 garden	det
4	garden	garden	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 escapes	obj
5	by	by	SCONJ	_	6 climbing	mark
6	climbing	climb	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 escapes	advcl
7	down	down	ADP	_	6 climbing	compound:prt
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 rope	det
9	rope	rope	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 climbing	obj
10	unseen	unseen	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 climbing	xcomp
11	by	by	ADP	_	13 guards	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 guards	det
13	guards	guard	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 climbing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	escape	present	She	the garden					vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme garden=Initial_Location
2	climb down	gerund	She not said here	a rope				by the guards; unseen property	vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial_Location rope=Theme

Option 3

She flees the palace at night.

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 flees	nsubj
2	flees	flee	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 palace	det
4	palace	palace	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 flees	obj
5	at	at	ADP	_	6 night	case
6	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 flees	obl
7	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 flees	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	flee	present	She	the palace			night		vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme palace=Initial_Location

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

She departs the household under pretext, concealing her absence from the royal party

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 departs	nsubj
2	departs	depart	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 household	det
4	household	household	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 departs	obj
5	under	under	ADP	_	6 pretext	case
6	pretext	pretext	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 departs	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 concealing	punct
8	concealing	conceal	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 departs	advcl
9	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 absence	nmod:poss
10	absence	absence	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 concealing	obj
11	from	from	ADP	_	14 party	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 party	det
13	royal	royal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 party	amod
14	party	party	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 concealing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	depart	present	She	the household	pretext	vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme household=Initial_Location
2	conceal	gerund	She not said here	her absence	the royal party	vn concealment-16 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent absence=Patient from party=Beneficiary
3	absent		her = she			nom absence «state transitive»: poss=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.

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