Exam question 1 · Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Sparrow and the Carter: the bird'…

Which of the following describes the sequence in which the carter's horses were destroyed?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, describe, destroy · To what, where: sequence, horses

This is exam question 1 of lesson 732 «Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Sparrow and the Carter: the bird's revenge, then the twelve dancing princesses begin» 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	5 describes	nsubj
2	of	of	SCONJ	_	5 describes	mark
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 describes	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 describes	nsubj
5	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 sequence	det
7	sequence	sequence	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 describes	obj
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 which	case
9	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	15 destroyed	obl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 carter	det
11	carter	carter	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 horses	nmod:poss
12	's	's	PART	_	11 carter	case
13	horses	horse	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 destroyed	nsubj:pass
14	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	15 destroyed	aux:pass
15	destroyed	destroy	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 sequence	acl:relcl
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 describes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	describe	present	the sequence		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent sequence=Theme
3	destroy	past · passive	the carter's horses	the sequence	vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: subject=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

first by a blow from the hatchet, then by the sparrow pecking, and finally by drowning in the well water

The tree, 20 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	4 blow	advmod
2	by	by	ADP	_	4 blow	case
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 blow	det
4	blow	blow	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 hatchet	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 hatchet	det
7	hatchet	hatchet	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 blow	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 pecking	punct
9	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	13 pecking	advmod
10	by	by	ADP	_	13 pecking	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 pecking	det
12	sparrow	sparrow	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 pecking	compound
13	pecking	pecking	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 blow	conj
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 drowning	punct
15	and	and	CCONJ	_	18 drowning	cc
16	finally	finally	ADV	_	18 drowning	advmod
17	by	by	SCONJ	_	18 drowning	mark
18	drowning	drown	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 blow	conj
19	in	in	ADP	_	22 water	case
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 water	det
21	well	well	ADJ	Degree=Pos	22 water	amod
22	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 drowning	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	drown	gerund				the well water		finally property	vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 2

first by pecking, then by a blow from the hatchet, and finally by fire

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	3 pecking	advmod
2	by	by	SCONJ	_	3 pecking	mark
3	pecking	peck	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 blow	punct
5	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	8 blow	advmod
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 blow	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 blow	det
8	blow	blow	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 pecking	obl
9	from	from	ADP	_	11 hatchet	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 hatchet	det
11	hatchet	hatchet	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 blow	nmod
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 fire	punct
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 fire	cc
14	finally	finally	ADV	_	16 fire	advmod
15	by	by	ADP	_	16 fire	case
16	fire	fire	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 pecking	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	peck	gerund						by a blow from the hatchet; by fire; first property	vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent by blow=Location

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

first by a blow from the hatchet, then by a blow from the hatchet, and finally by pecking

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	4 blow	advmod
2	by	by	ADP	_	4 blow	case
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 blow	det
4	blow	blow	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 hatchet	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 hatchet	det
7	hatchet	hatchet	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 blow	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 blow	punct
9	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	12 blow	advmod
10	by	by	ADP	_	12 blow	case
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 blow	det
12	blow	blow	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 blow	conj
13	from	from	ADP	_	15 hatchet	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 hatchet	det
15	hatchet	hatchet	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 blow	nmod
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	20 pecking	punct
17	and	and	CCONJ	_	20 pecking	cc
18	finally	finally	ADV	_	20 pecking	advmod
19	by	by	SCONJ	_	20 pecking	mark
20	pecking	peck	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 blow	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	peck	gerund						finally property	vn chew-39.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

first by the carter's own blow, then by the wife's hatchet, and finally by the sparrow pecking them to death

The tree, 22 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	7 blow	advmod
2	by	by	ADP	_	7 blow	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 carter	det
4	carter	carter	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 blow	nmod:poss
5	's	's	PART	_	4 carter	case
6	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 blow	amod
7	blow	blow	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 hatchet	punct
9	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	14 hatchet	advmod
10	by	by	ADP	_	14 hatchet	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 wife	det
12	wife	wife	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 hatchet	nmod:poss
13	's	's	PART	_	12 wife	case
14	hatchet	hatchet	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 blow	conj
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	20 sparrow	punct
16	and	and	CCONJ	_	20 sparrow	cc
17	finally	finally	ADV	_	20 sparrow	advmod
18	by	by	ADP	_	20 sparrow	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 sparrow	det
20	sparrow	sparrow	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 blow	conj
21	pecking	peck	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	20 sparrow	acl
22	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	21 pecking	obj
23	to	to	ADP	_	24 death	case
24	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 pecking	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	peck	gerund	the sparrow not said here	blow				to death result	vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent they=Patient to death=Result
2	blow		the carter						nom blow «act intransitive»: 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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