Exam question 1 · Andersen's Tales, The Darning Needle: the proud needle is…

Which of the following statements describes accurately the manner in which the darning-needle is conveyed by the street boys?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: street boys · What happens: follow, describe, convey · To what, where: manner, darning needle

This is exam question 1 of lesson 813 «Andersen's Tales, The Darning Needle: the proud needle is tossed into a gutter, sails in an egg-shell, and is crushed by a cart.» 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	6 describes	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Which	nmod
6	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	6 describes	advmod
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 manner	det
9	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 describes	obj
10	in	in	ADP	_	11 which	case
11	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	17 conveyed	obl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 needle	det
13	darning	darning	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 needle	compound
14	-	-	PUNCT	_	13 darning	punct
15	needle	needle	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 conveyed	nsubj:pass
16	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	17 conveyed	aux:pass
17	conveyed	convey	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 manner	acl:relcl
18	by	by	ADP	_	21 boys	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 boys	det
20	street	street	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 boys	compound
21	boys	boy	NOUN	Number=Plur	17 conveyed	obl:agent
22	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 describes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund					vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	describe	present		the manner		accurately property	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent manner=Theme
3	convey	present · passive	the street boys	the darning needle	the manner		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent subject=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

She is placed within a hollow egg-shell which is then carefully set afloat in the gutter

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 placed	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 placed	aux:pass
3	placed	place	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	within	within	ADP	_	9 shell	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 shell	det
6	hollow	hollow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 shell	amod
7	egg	egg	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 shell	compound
8	-	-	PUNCT	_	7 egg	punct
9	shell	shell	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 placed	obl
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	14 set	obj
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 set	cop
12	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	14 set	advmod
13	carefully	carefully	ADV	_	14 set	advmod
14	set	set	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 shell	acl:relcl
15	afloat	afloat	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 set	xcomp
16	in	in	ADP	_	18 gutter	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 gutter	det
18	gutter	gutter	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 set	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	place	present · passive		She				within a hollow egg shell	vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: subject=Theme
2	is	present				the gutter	then	afloat, carefully, set property	tree rules

Option 2

She is carried in a cloth bag by the older boys

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 carried	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 carried	aux:pass
3	carried	carry	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	7 bag	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 bag	det
6	cloth	cloth	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 bag	compound
7	bag	bag	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 carried	obl
8	by	by	ADP	_	11 boys	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 boys	det
10	older	old	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	11 boys	amod
11	boys	boy	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 carried	obl:agent

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	carry	present · passive	the older boys	She		a cloth bag			vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent subject=Value in bag=Location

Option 3

She is hidden under a hat and carried by the boys

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 hidden	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 hidden	aux:pass
3	hidden	hide	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	under	under	ADP	_	6 hat	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 hat	det
6	hat	hat	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 hidden	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 carried	cc
8	carried	carry	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 hidden	conj
9	by	by	ADP	_	11 boys	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 boys	det
11	boys	boy	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 carried	obl:agent

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hide	present · passive		She		a hat			vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Patient under hat=Location
2	carry	participle							vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

She is placed within an egg-shell, which is set afloat

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 placed	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 placed	aux:pass
3	placed	place	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	within	within	ADP	_	8 shell	case
5	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 shell	det
6	egg	egg	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 shell	compound
7	-	-	PUNCT	_	6 egg	punct
8	shell	shell	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 placed	obl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 set	punct
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 set	nsubj:pass
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 set	aux:pass
12	set	set	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 shell	acl:relcl
13	afloat	afloat	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 set	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	place	present · passive		She				within a egg shell	vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: subject=Theme
2	set	present · passive		a egg shell				afloat property	vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Result

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/813-pg27200-part24/e1/