Exam question 4 · Andersen's Tales, The Darning Needle: the proud needle is…

Which of the following accurately identifies the object which the narrator describes as "not genteel" in the context of the darning-needle?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: narrator · What happens: follow, identify, describe · To what, where: object

This is exam question 4 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 identifies	nsubj
2	of	of	SCONJ	_	6 identifies	mark
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 identifies	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 identifies	nsubj
5	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	6 identifies	advmod
6	identifies	identify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 object	det
8	object	object	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 identifies	obj
9	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 describes	obj
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 narrator	det
11	narrator	narrator	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 describes	nsubj
12	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 object	acl:relcl
13	as	as	SCONJ	_	16 genteel	mark
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	16 genteel	punct
15	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	16 genteel	advmod
16	genteel	genteel	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 describes	ccomp
17	"	"	PUNCT	_	16 genteel	punct
18	in	in	ADP	_	20 context	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 context	det
20	context	context	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 genteel	obl
21	of	of	ADP	_	25 needle	case
22	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	25 needle	det
23	darning	darning	NOUN	Number=Sing	25 needle	compound
24	-	-	PUNCT	_	23 darning	punct
25	needle	needle	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 context	nmod
26	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 identifies	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	identify	present		the object	accurately property	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent object=Theme
3	describe	present	the narrator	the object		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent which=Theme

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

Using rude words in company

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Using	use	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	root	root
2	rude	rude	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 words	amod
3	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Using	obj
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 company	case
5	company	company	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Using	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	use	gerund		rude words		company			vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Patient

Option 2

The act of weeping loudly in front of all the other needles and people

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 act	det
2	act	act	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 front	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 weeping	case
4	weeping	weeping	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 act	nmod
5	loudly	loudly	ADV	_	7 front	advmod
6	in	in	ADP	_	7 front	case
7	front	front	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
8	of	of	ADP	_	12 needles	case
9	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	12 needles	det:predet
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 needles	det
11	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 needles	amod
12	needles	needle	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 front	nmod
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 people	cc
14	people	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 needles	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	act		weeping						nom act «communication intransitive»: of=agent

Option 3

The habit of crying openly and sobbing in the presence of gentlefolk

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 habit	det
2	habit	habit	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	SCONJ	_	4 crying	mark
4	crying	cry	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 habit	acl
5	openly	openly	ADV	_	4 crying	advmod
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 sobbing	cc
7	sobbing	sob	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 crying	conj
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 presence	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 presence	det
10	presence	presence	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 sobbing	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 gentlefolk	case
12	gentlefolk	gentlefolk	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 presence	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cry speech: express	gerund	the habit not said here					openly property	vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	sob	gerund	the habit not said here					in the presence of gentlefolk	vn nonverbal_expression-40.2 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in presence=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The act of weeping in public

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 act	det
2	act	act	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 weeping	case
4	weeping	weeping	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 act	nmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 public	case
6	public	public	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 act	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	act		weeping						nom act «communication intransitive»: of=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/e4/