Exam question 3 · Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Wishing-Cloak, part 55: a sister…

Specify the means by which Mrs Fox determined the suitability of each applicant for marriage.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, the, Mrs · What happens: specify, mean, determine · To what, where: suitability · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 3 of lesson 779 «Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Wishing-Cloak, part 55: a sister frees her ravens, Mrs Fox tests her suitors, and a huntsman gets a magic cloak» 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	Specify	specify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 means	nsubj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Specify	ccomp
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 determined	obl
6	Mrs	Mrs	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 determined	nsubj
7	Fox	Fox	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 Mrs	flat
8	determined	determine	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 means	ccomp
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 suitability	det
10	suitability	suitability	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 determined	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 applicant	case
12	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	13 applicant	det
13	applicant	applicant	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 suitability	nmod
14	for	for	ADP	_	15 marriage	case
15	marriage	marriage	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 applicant	nmod
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Specify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	specify	imperative	you not said here		vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: agent=Agent clause=Attribute
2	mean	present	the		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	determine	past	Mrs	the suitability of each applicant for marriage	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent suitability=Topic

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

By asking about their shoes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 asking	mark
2	asking	ask	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	about	about	ADP	_	5 shoes	case
4	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 shoes	nmod:poss
5	shoes	shoe	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 asking	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ask speech: ask	gerund						about their shoes	vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V PP.topic whether S»: agent=Agent about shoe=Topic

Option 2

By inquiring after their stockings, mouths, and family history in the village

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 inquiring	mark
2	inquiring	inquire	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	after	after	ADP	_	5 stockings	case
4	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 stockings	nmod:poss
5	stockings	stocking	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 inquiring	obl
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 mouths	punct
7	mouths	mouth	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 stockings	conj
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 history	punct
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 history	cc
10	family	family	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 history	compound
11	history	history	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 inquiring	obl
12	in	in	ADP	_	14 village	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 village	det
14	village	village	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 history	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	inquire speech: other	gerund		family history in the village			after their stockings and mouths		vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

By inquiring after their stockings and mouths

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 inquiring	mark
2	inquiring	inquire	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	after	after	ADP	_	5 stockings	case
4	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 stockings	nmod:poss
5	stockings	stocking	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 inquiring	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 mouths	cc
7	mouths	mouth	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 stockings	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	inquire speech: other	gerund					after their stockings and mouths		vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4

By checking their hats and their coats

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 checking	mark
2	checking	check	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 hats	nmod:poss
4	hats	hat	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 checking	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 coats	cc
6	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 coats	nmod:poss
7	coats	coat	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 hats	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	check	gerund		their hats and hats's coats					vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hat=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/779-pg2591-part55/e3/