Exam question 2 · Andersen's Tales, The Glovemaker's Widow

Which of the following best states the reason the mayor gave for the widow's death?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: best, mayor, widow · What happens: follow, state, give, die · To what, where: reason

This is exam question 2 of lesson 845 «Andersen's Tales, The Glovemaker's Widow» 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 states	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 states	nsubj
6	states	state	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 reason	det
8	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 states	obj
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 mayor	det
10	mayor	Mayor	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 gave	nsubj
11	gave	give	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 reason	acl:relcl
12	for	for	ADP	_	16 death	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 widow	det
14	widow	widow	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 death	nmod:poss
15	's	's	PART	_	14 widow	case
16	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 gave	obl
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 states	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	state speech: other	present	the best	the reason		tree rules
3	give	past	the mayor	the reason not said here	for the widow's death	vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent reason=Theme for death=Asset
4	die		the widow			nom death «event 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

He said the stream had drowned her quickly

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 said	nsubj
2	said	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 stream	det
4	stream	stream	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 drowned	nsubj:pass
5	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 drowned	aux
6	drowned	drown	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 said	ccomp
7	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 drowned	obj
8	quickly	quickly	ADV	_	6 drowned	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	past	He						vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	drown	past · perfect · passive		the stream				quickly property	vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Patient she=Result

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

He asserted that she had drunk herself to death

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 asserted	nsubj
2	asserted	assert	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	6 drunk	mark
4	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 drunk	nsubj
5	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 drunk	aux
6	drunk	drink	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	2 asserted	advcl
7	herself	herself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	6 drunk	obj
8	to	to	ADP	_	9 death	case
9	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 drunk	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	assert	past	He						vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	drink	past · perfect	she	herself = she				to death	vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent herself=Patient

Option 3

He said she was ill

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 said	nsubj
2	said	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 ill	nsubj
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 ill	cop
5	ill	ill	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 said	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	past	He						vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	is	past	she					ill property	tree rules

Option 4

He claimed she had died of cold alone

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 claimed	nsubj
2	claimed	claim	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 died	nsubj
4	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 died	aux
5	died	die	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	2 claimed	ccomp
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 cold	case
7	cold	cold	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 died	obl
8	alone	alone	ADV	_	5 died	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	claim speech: other	past	He						vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	die	past · perfect	she					of cold; alone property	vn die-42.4-1 «NP V PP.cause»: agent=Patient of cold=Causer

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.

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