Exam question 3 · Andersen, The Child in the Grave, part 20: a grieving moth…

What reason does the narrator give for the mother's loss of faith?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: reason · What happens: give

This is exam question 3 of lesson 809 «Andersen, The Child in the Grave, part 20: a grieving mother slips out to her son's grave at night and meets a stranger» 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	DET	PronType=Int	2 reason	det
2	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 give	nsubj:outer
3	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 give	aux
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 narrator	det
5	narrator	narrator	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 give	nsubj
6	give	give	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
7	for	for	ADP	_	11 loss	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 mother	det
9	mother	mother	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 loss	nmod:poss
10	's	's	PART	_	9 mother	case
11	loss	loss	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 give	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 faith	case
13	faith	faith	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 loss	nmod
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 give	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	present · do-support	what reason					for the mother's loss of faith	vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent for loss=Asset

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 · ✓ the right answer

her great grief over the child

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 grief	nmod:poss
2	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 grief	amod
3	grief	grief	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	over	over	ADP	_	6 child	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 child	det
6	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 grief	nmod

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

Option 2

her despair at losing the child and her husband's coldness towards her

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 despair	nmod:poss
2	despair	despair	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 losing	nsubj
3	at	at	ADP	_	4 losing	case
4	losing	lose	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 child	det
6	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 losing	obj
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 coldness	cc
8	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 husband	nmod:poss
9	husband	husband	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 coldness	nmod:poss
10	's	's	PART	_	9 husband	case
11	coldness	coldness	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 losing	conj
12	towards	towards	ADP	_	13 her	case
13	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 losing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lose	gerund	her despair	the child					tree rules
2	despair		her = she						nom despair «state intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

her sorrow for the lost boy

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 sorrow	nmod:poss
2	sorrow	sorrow	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	for	for	ADP	_	6 boy	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 boy	det
5	lost	lose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 boy	amod
6	boy	boy	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 sorrow	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lose	participle							vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	sorrow		her = she					for the lost boy	nom sorrow «feeling intransitive»: poss=agent for=obl

Option 4

her great grief over the child and her anger at God's silence

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 grief	nmod:poss
2	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 grief	amod
3	grief	grief	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	over	over	ADP	_	6 child	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 child	det
6	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 grief	nmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 anger	cc
8	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 anger	nmod:poss
9	anger	anger	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 grief	conj
10	at	at	ADP	_	13 silence	case
11	God	God	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 silence	nmod:poss
12	's	's	PART	_	11 God	case
13	silence	silence	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 anger	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	anger		child			God's silence			nom anger «feeling intransitive»: poss=agent at=place
2	silence		God						nom silence «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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/809-pg27200-part20/e3/