Exam question 4 · Brown Fairy Book, The Magic Kettle: a kettle turns into a…

What was the ultimate fate of the two principal parties?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: ultimate fate · What happens: be, fate · To what, where: two principal parties

This is exam question 4 of lesson 724 «Brown Fairy Book, The Magic Kettle: a kettle turns into a tanuki and makes its owner rich» 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	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	root	root
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	1 What	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 fate	det
4	ultimate	ultimate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 fate	amod
5	fate	fate	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 What	nsubj
6	of	of	ADP	_	10 parties	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 parties	det
8	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	10 parties	nummod
9	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 parties	amod
10	parties	party	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 fate	nmod
11	?	?	PUNCT	_	1 What	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	the ultimate fate of the two principal parties						tree rules
2	fate			the two principal parties					nom fate «event 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

They retired to a quiet village

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 retired	nsubj
2	retired	retire	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	ADP	_	6 village	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 village	det
5	quiet	quiet	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 village	amod
6	village	village	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 retired	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	retire	past	They					to a quiet village	vn resign-10.11-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

They both died in their sleep many years later, surrounded by children and grandchildren in their large family house by the sea

The tree, 22 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 died	nsubj
2	both	both	ADV	_	3 died	advmod
3	died	die	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 sleep	case
5	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 sleep	nmod:poss
6	sleep	sleep	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 died	obl
7	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 years	amod
8	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 later	obl:unmarked
9	later	late	ADV	Degree=Cmp	3 died	advmod
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 surrounded	punct
11	surrounded	surround	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 died	advcl
12	by	by	ADP	_	13 children	case
13	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 surrounded	obl:agent
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 grandchildren	cc
15	grandchildren	grandchild	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 children	conj
16	in	in	ADP	_	20 house	case
17	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	20 house	nmod:poss
18	large	large	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 house	amod
19	family	family	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 house	compound
20	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 surrounded	obl
21	by	by	ADP	_	23 sea	case
22	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	23 sea	det
23	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 surrounded	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	die	past	They	in their sleep; both, late property	vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.patient V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in sleep=Attribute
2	surround	participle	They not said here	by the sea; in grandchildren's large family house	vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent in house=Theme
3	sleep		their = they		nom sleep «state intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 3

They lived to great old age, were honored by the emperor, and their names were remembered in songs for generations

The tree, 20 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 lived	nsubj
2	lived	live	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	ADP	_	6 age	case
4	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 age	amod
5	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 age	amod
6	age	age	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 lived	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 honored	punct
8	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 honored	aux:pass
9	honored	honor	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 lived	advcl
10	by	by	ADP	_	12 emperor	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 emperor	det
12	emperor	emperor	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 honored	obl:agent
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 remembered	punct
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	18 remembered	cc
15	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	16 names	nmod:poss
16	names	name	NOUN	Number=Plur	18 remembered	nsubj:pass
17	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	18 remembered	aux:pass
18	remembered	remember	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 lived	parataxis
19	in	in	ADP	_	20 songs	case
20	songs	song	NOUN	Number=Plur	18 remembered	obl
21	for	for	ADP	_	22 generations	case
22	generations	generation	NOUN	Number=Plur	18 remembered	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	roles by
1	live	past	They			to great old age	vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	honor	past · passive	the emperor				vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	remember	past · passive		their names	songs	for generations	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: subject=Theme
4	name		their = they				nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

They died in old age, esteemed by all

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 died	nsubj
2	died	die	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	5 age	case
4	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 age	amod
5	age	age	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 died	obl
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 esteemed	punct
7	esteemed	esteem	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 died	conj
8	by	by	ADP	_	9 all	case
9	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	7 esteemed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	die	past	They				in old age		vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.patient V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in age=Attribute
2	esteem	participle	They not said here					by all	vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer

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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