Exam question 4 · Andersen's Tales, The Bird of Popular Song, part 13: the s…

Explain the significance of the snow-bound town as presented in the concluding passage.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: explain, bind, present · To what, where: significance, concluding passage

This is exam question 4 of lesson 802 «Andersen's Tales, The Bird of Popular Song, part 13: the singer wakes the king's spirit, the Bird of Song flies out, and we arrive at Borglum» 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	Explain	explain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 significance	det
3	significance	significance	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Explain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	9 town	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 town	det
6	snow	snow	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 bound	compound
7	-	-	PUNCT	_	6 snow	punct
8	bound	bind	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 town	amod
9	town	town	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 significance	nmod
10	as	as	SCONJ	_	11 presented	mark
11	presented	present	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Explain	advcl
12	in	in	ADP	_	15 passage	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 passage	det
14	concluding	concluding	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 passage	compound
15	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 presented	obl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Explain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	explain speech: assert	imperative	you not said here	the significance of the bound town		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent significance=Topic
2	bind	participle				vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
3	present	participle	you not said here		the concluding passage	vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP»: agent=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

It depicts a forgotten community whose songs were lost to the snow and the wind.

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 depicts	nsubj
2	depicts	depict	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 community	det
4	forgotten	forget	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 community	amod
5	community	community	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 depicts	obj
6	whose	whose	PRON	Poss=Yes PronType=Rel	7 songs	nmod:poss
7	songs	song	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 lost	nsubj:pass
8	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 lost	aux:pass
9	lost	lose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 community	acl:relcl
10	to	to	ADP	_	12 snow	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 snow	det
12	snow	snow	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 lost	obl
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 wind	cc
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 wind	det
15	wind	wind	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 snow	conj
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 depicts	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	depict	present	It	a forgotten community		vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent community=Theme
2	forget	participle				tree rules
3	lose	past · passive		songs	to the snow and the wind	vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

It is a symbol of a buried life that spring and the Bird of Song will restore.

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 symbol	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 symbol	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 symbol	det
4	symbol	symbol	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 life	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 life	det
7	buried	bury	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 life	amod
8	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 symbol	nmod
9	that	that	SCONJ	_	17 restore	mark
10	spring	spring	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 restore	nsubj
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 Bird	cc
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 Bird	det
13	Bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 spring	conj
14	of	of	ADP	_	15 Song	case
15	Song	Song	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 Bird	nmod
16	will	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	17 restore	aux
17	restore	restore	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 life	acl
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	4 symbol	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a symbol	of a buried life	tree rules
2	bury	participle				vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	restore	future	spring and the Bird of Song	a buried life not said here		vn contribute-13.2 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent life=Theme

Option 3

A symbol of death.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 symbol	det
2	symbol	symbol	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 death	case
4	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 symbol	nmod
5	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 symbol	punct

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4

It shows the snow melting.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 shows	nsubj
2	shows	show	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 melting	det
4	snow	snow	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 melting	compound
5	melting	melting	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 shows	obj
6	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 shows	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	show	present	It	the snow melting					vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent melting=Recipient

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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