Exam question 1 · Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 1:…
Identify the material upon which Taffy executed her drawing.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, Taffy · What happens: identify, execute, draw · To what, where: material, drawing
This is exam question 1 of lesson 84 «Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 1: a broken spear and a picture on birch-bark» 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 | Identify | identify | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 material | det |
| 3 | material | material | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Identify | obj |
| 4 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 5 which | case |
| 5 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 7 executed | obl |
| 6 | Taffy | Taffy | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 executed | nsubj |
| 7 | executed | execute | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 material | acl:relcl |
| 8 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 9 drawing | nmod:poss |
| 9 | drawing | drawing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 executed | obj |
| 10 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 Identify | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | identify | imperative | you not said here | the material | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent material=Theme | ||||
| 2 | execute | past | Taffy | Taffy's drawing | upon the material | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent drawing=Patient | |||
| 3 | draw | Taffy | nom drawing «communication intransitive»: 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 large flat piece of white birch-bark, carefully cut from a tree near the swamp
The tree, 16 words
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 4 piece | det |
| 2 | large | large | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 piece | amod |
| 3 | flat | flat | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 piece | amod |
| 4 | piece | piece | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 5 | of | of | ADP | _ | 9 bark | case |
| 6 | white | white | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 bark | amod |
| 7 | birch | birch | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 bark | compound |
| 8 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 7 birch | punct |
| 9 | bark | bark | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 piece | nmod |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 cut | punct |
| 11 | carefully | carefully | ADV | _ | 12 cut | advmod |
| 12 | cut | cut | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 4 piece | acl |
| 13 | from | from | ADP | _ | 15 tree | case |
| 14 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 15 tree | det |
| 15 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 cut | obl |
| 16 | near | near | ADP | _ | 18 swamp | case |
| 17 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 swamp | det |
| 18 | swamp | swamp | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 cut | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | cut | participle | a large flat piece of white birch bark not said here | a tree | near the swamp; carefully property | vn meander-47.7 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from tree=Location |
Option 2
A piece of wet river mud
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 piece | det |
| 2 | piece | piece | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 6 mud | case |
| 4 | wet | wet | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 mud | amod |
| 5 | river | river | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 mud | compound |
| 6 | mud | mud | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 piece | nmod |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 3
A sheet of smooth clay
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 sheet | det |
| 2 | sheet | sheet | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 5 clay | case |
| 4 | smooth | smooth | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 clay | amod |
| 5 | clay | clay | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 sheet | nmod |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
A flat piece of birch-bark
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 piece | det |
| 2 | flat | flat | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 piece | amod |
| 3 | piece | piece | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 4 | of | of | ADP | _ | 7 bark | case |
| 5 | birch | birch | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 bark | compound |
| 6 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 5 birch | punct |
| 7 | bark | bark | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 piece | nmod |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
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/84-justso-first-letter-1-a-broken-spear/e1/