Exam question 3 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Flax: the fir-tree burns, and…
Which of the following best characterises the fern's mournful song regarding the flax's continuing development?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: best, fern, flax · What happens: follow, characteris, regard, continue, sing, develop · To what, where: mournful song
This is exam question 3 of lesson 827 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Flax: the fir-tree burns, and the flax becomes linen and then paper» 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 characterises | obj |
| 2 | of | of | ADP | _ | 5 best | case |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 best | det |
| 4 | following | follow | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 5 best | case |
| 5 | best | good | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 6 characterises | nsubj |
| 6 | characterises | characteris | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 fern | det |
| 8 | fern | fern | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 song | nmod:poss |
| 9 | 's | 's | PART | _ | 8 fern | case |
| 10 | mournful | mournful | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 11 song | amod |
| 11 | song | song | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 characterises | obj |
| 12 | regarding | regard | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 17 development | case |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 flax | det |
| 14 | flax | flax | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 development | nmod:poss |
| 15 | 's | 's | PART | _ | 14 flax | case |
| 16 | continuing | continue | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 17 development | amod |
| 17 | development | development | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 song | nmod |
| 18 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 6 characterises | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | follow | gerund | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||||
| 2 | characteris | present | the best | the fern's mournful song | regard the flax's continuing development | tree rules | |||
| 3 | regard | gerund | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 4 | continue | gerund | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||||
| 5 | sing | the fern | regard the flax's continuing development | nom song «communication intransitive»: poss=agent regard=obl | |||||
| 6 | develop | the flax | nom development «act transitive»: poss=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
a declaration that the flax was going to be happy forever
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 declaration | det |
| 2 | declaration | declaration | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 7 going | mark |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 flax | det |
| 5 | flax | flax | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 going | nsubj |
| 6 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 going | aux |
| 7 | going | go | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 2 declaration | acl |
| 8 | to | to | PART | _ | 10 happy | mark |
| 9 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 10 happy | cop |
| 10 | happy | happy | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 going | xcomp |
| 11 | forever | forever | ADV | _ | 10 happy | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go | past · progressive | the flax | a declaration not said here | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location declaration=Theme | ||||
| 2 | is | to-infinitive | the flax not said here | forever, happy property | tree rules |
Option 2
a declaration that the song is ended and must never be sung again
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 declaration | det |
| 2 | declaration | declaration | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 ended | nsubj |
| 3 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 5 song | mark |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 song | det |
| 5 | song | song | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 declaration | acl |
| 6 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 7 ended | cop |
| 7 | ended | ended | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 8 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 12 sung | cc |
| 9 | must | must | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 12 sung | aux |
| 10 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 12 sung | advmod |
| 11 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 12 sung | aux:pass |
| 12 | sung | sing | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 7 ended | conj |
| 13 | again | again | ADV | _ | 12 sung | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | a declaration | ended property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | not sing speech: express | must · passive | a declaration not said here | again | vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V» |
Option 3
a cheerful tune about the spring
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 tune | det |
| 2 | cheerful | cheerful | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 tune | amod |
| 3 | tune | tune | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 4 | about | about | ADP | _ | 6 spring | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 spring | det |
| 6 | spring | spring | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 tune | nmod |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
a declaration that the song is ended
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 declaration | det |
| 2 | declaration | declaration | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 ended | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 5 song | mark |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 song | det |
| 5 | song | song | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 declaration | acl |
| 6 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 7 ended | aux:pass |
| 7 | ended | end | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | end | present · passive | a declaration | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: subject=Eventuality |
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/827-pg27200-part38/e3/