Exam question 2 · Andersen's Tales, The Darning Needle: the proud needle is…

With reference to the text, which part of the tale is concerned with the servant's motive for freeing Mrs. Meta Mogen?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: motive · What happens: be, free · To what, where: Mrs. Meta

This is exam question 2 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	With	with	ADP	_	2 reference	case
2	reference	reference	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 concerned	obl
3	to	to	ADP	_	5 text	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 text	det
5	text	text	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reference	nmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 part	punct
7	which	which	DET	PronType=Int	8 part	det
8	part	part	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 text	appos
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 tale	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 tale	det
11	tale	tale	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 part	nmod
12	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 concerned	cop
13	concerned	concerned	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
14	with	with	ADP	_	18 motive	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 servant	det
16	servant	servant	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 motive	nmod:poss
17	's	's	PART	_	16 servant	case
18	motive	motive	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 concerned	obl
19	for	for	SCONJ	_	20 freeing	mark
20	freeing	free	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	18 motive	acl
21	Mrs.	Mrs.	PROPN	Number=Sing	22 Meta	compound
22	Meta	Meta	PROPN	Number=Sing	20 freeing	obj
23	Mogen	Mogen	PROPN	Number=Sing	22 Meta	flat
24	?	?	PUNCT	_	13 concerned	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present						with reference to the text; with the servant's motive; concerned property	tree rules
2	free	gerund	the servant's motive not said here	Mrs. Meta					vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Causer meta=Source

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

The servant's wish to repay Meta's kindness toward his father before the robbers return home

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 servant	det
2	servant	servant	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 wish	nmod:poss
3	's	's	PART	_	2 servant	case
4	wish	wish	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 repay	nsubj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 repay	mark
6	repay	repay	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
7	Meta	Meta	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 kindness	nmod:poss
8	's	's	PART	_	7 Meta	case
9	kindness	kindness	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 repay	obj
10	toward	toward	ADP	_	12 father	case
11	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 father	nmod:poss
12	father	father	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 repay	obl
13	before	before	SCONJ	_	16 return	mark
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 robbers	det
15	robbers	robber	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 return	nsubj
16	return	return	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 repay	advcl
17	home	home	ADV	_	16 return	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	repay	to-infinitive	the servant's wish	Meta's kindness	toward wish's father	vn equip-13.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent kindness=Recipient
2	return	present	the robbers		home property	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	wish		the servant			nom wish «feeling intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 2

The wish to escape the wooden horse for himself

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 wish	det
2	wish	wish	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 escape	mark
4	escape	escape	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 wish	acl
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 horse	det
6	wooden	wooden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 horse	amod
7	horse	horse	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 escape	obj
8	for	for	ADP	_	9 himself	case
9	himself	himself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	4 escape	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	escape	to-infinitive		the wooden horse				for horse	vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme horse=Initial_Location

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The debt owed to Meta's kindness toward his father

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 debt	det
2	debt	debt	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	owed	owe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 debt	acl
4	to	to	ADP	_	7 kindness	case
5	Meta	Meta	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 kindness	nmod:poss
6	's	's	PART	_	5 Meta	case
7	kindness	kindness	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 owed	obl
8	toward	toward	ADP	_	10 father	case
9	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 father	nmod:poss
10	father	father	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 kindness	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	owe	participle		the debt not said here				to Meta's kindness toward Meta's father goal	vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent to kindness=Goal

Option 4

The servant's desire to avenge the robbers for killing the dog and the family members

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 servant	det
2	servant	servant	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 desire	nmod:poss
3	's	's	PART	_	2 servant	case
4	desire	desire	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 avenge	mark
6	avenge	avenge	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 desire	acl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 robbers	det
8	robbers	robber	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 avenge	obj
9	for	for	SCONJ	_	10 killing	mark
10	killing	kill	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 avenge	advcl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 dog	det
12	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 killing	obj
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 members	cc
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 members	det
15	family	family	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 members	compound
16	members	member	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 desire	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	avenge	to-infinitive		the robbers	tree rules
2	kill	gerund		the dog	vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dog=Theme
3	desire		the servant		nom desire «feeling 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/813-pg27200-part24/e2/