Exam question 2 · Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 2:…

Ascertain the true nature of the figures interpreted by Teshumai as «a whole pack of people».

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, interpret · To what, where: true nature, figures

This is exam question 2 of lesson 85 «Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 2: the picture goes wrong and the whole Tribe comes» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 nature	det
3	true	true	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 nature	amod
4	nature	nature	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 figures	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 figures	det
7	figures	figure	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 nature	nmod
8	interpreted	interpret	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 figures	acl
9	by	by	ADP	_	10 Teshumai	case
10	Teshumai	Teshumai	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 interpreted	obl
11	as	as	ADP	_	15 pack	case
12	«	«	PUNCT	_	15 pack	punct
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 pack	det
14	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 pack	amod
15	pack	pack	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 interpreted	obl
16	of	of	ADP	_	17 people	case
17	people	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 pack	nmod
18	»	»	PUNCT	_	15 pack	punct
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the true nature of the figures					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nature=Topic
2	interpret	participle		the figures not said here				by Teshumai; as a whole pack of people	vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent as pack=Attribute

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

They were beavers drawn by Taffy to show the route, and the Tribe had wrongly thought they were enemies hiding in the swamp

The tree, 23 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 beavers	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 beavers	cop
3	beavers	beaver	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	drawn	draw	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 beavers	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 Taffy	case
6	Taffy	Taffy	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 drawn	obl
7	to	to	PART	_	8 show	mark
8	show	show	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 drawn	advcl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 route	det
10	route	route	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 show	obj
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 thought	punct
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	17 thought	cc
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 Tribe	det
14	Tribe	Tribe	PROPN	Number=Sing	17 thought	nsubj:pass
15	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	17 thought	aux
16	wrongly	wrongly	ADV	_	17 thought	advmod
17	thought	think	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 beavers	acl
18	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	20 enemies	nsubj
19	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	20 enemies	cop
20	enemies	enemy	NOUN	Number=Plur	17 thought	obl:agent
21	hiding	hide	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	20 enemies	acl
22	in	in	ADP	_	24 swamp	case
23	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	24 swamp	det
24	swamp	swamp	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 hiding	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	is a	past	They	beavers			tree rules
2	draw	participle		beavers not said here		by Taffy	vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	show	to-infinitive		the route			vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent route=Recipient
4	think speech: other	past · perfect · passive	enemies	the Tribe		wrongly property	vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot subject=Theme
5	is a	past	beavers = beaver	enemies			tree rules
6	hide	gerund	enemies not said here		the swamp		vn concealment-16-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in swamp=Location

Option 2

They were beavers that Taffy drew to show the route the Tribe should take

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 beavers	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 beavers	cop
3	beavers	beaver	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 take	nsubj
4	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 drew	obj
5	Taffy	Taffy	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 drew	nsubj
6	drew	draw	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 beavers	acl:relcl
7	to	to	PART	_	8 show	mark
8	show	show	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 drew	xcomp
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 route	det
10	route	route	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 show	obj
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 Tribe	det
12	Tribe	Tribe	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 show	obj
13	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	14 take	aux
14	take	take	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	is a	past	They	beavers	tree rules
2	draw	past	Taffy	beavers	tree rules
3	show	to-infinitive	Taffy not said here	the route	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent route=Recipient tribe=Topic
4	take	should	beavers		vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

They were beavers drawn by Taffy to indicate the route through the swamp

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 beavers	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 beavers	cop
3	beavers	beaver	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	drawn	draw	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 beavers	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 Taffy	case
6	Taffy	Taffy	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 drawn	obl
7	to	to	PART	_	8 indicate	mark
8	indicate	indicate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 drawn	advcl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 route	det
10	route	route	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 indicate	obj
11	through	through	ADP	_	13 swamp	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 swamp	det
13	swamp	swamp	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 indicate	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	is a	past	They	beavers			tree rules
2	draw	participle		beavers not said here		by Taffy	vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	indicate	to-infinitive		the route	the swamp		vn indicate-78-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot route=Topic

Option 4

They were beavers drawn by Taffy, though Teshumai thought they were enemies coming to fight through the swamp

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 beavers	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 beavers	cop
3	beavers	beaver	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 thought	nsubj
4	drawn	draw	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 beavers	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 Taffy	case
6	Taffy	Taffy	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 drawn	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 thought	punct
8	though	though	SCONJ	_	10 thought	mark
9	Teshumai	Teshumai	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 thought	nsubj
10	thought	think	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
11	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 enemies	nsubj
12	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	13 enemies	cop
13	enemies	enemy	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 thought	xcomp
14	coming	come	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	13 enemies	acl
15	to	to	PART	_	16 fight	mark
16	fight	fight	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	14 coming	xcomp
17	through	through	ADP	_	19 swamp	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 swamp	det
19	swamp	swamp	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 fight	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	is a	past	They	beavers			tree rules
2	draw	participle		beavers not said here		by Taffy	vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	think speech: other	past	beavers				vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
4	is a	past	beavers = beaver	enemies			tree rules
5	come	gerund	enemies not said here				tree rules
6	fight	to-infinitive	enemies not said here		the swamp		vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=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.

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