Exam question 2 · Andersen's Tales, The Ice Maiden, part 70: Rudy climbs to…

What condition did the miller specify before he would permit the marriage?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: condition, miller · What happens: specify, permit · To what, where: marriage

This is exam question 2 of lesson 859 «Andersen's Tales, The Ice Maiden, part 70: Rudy climbs to the eagle's nest» 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	What	what	DET	PronType=Int	2 condition	det
2	condition	condition	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 specify	nsubj
3	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 specify	aux
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 miller	det
5	miller	miller	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 specify	nsubj
6	specify	specify	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
7	before	before	SCONJ	_	10 permit	mark
8	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 permit	nsubj
9	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	10 permit	aux
10	permit	permit	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 specify	advcl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 marriage	det
12	marriage	marriage	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 permit	obj
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 specify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	specify	past · do-support	what condition						vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent
2	permit	would	miller	the marriage					vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent marriage=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

the return of his lost horse and cow

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 return	det
2	return	return	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 horse	case
4	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 horse	nmod:poss
5	lost	lose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 horse	amod
6	horse	horse	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 return	nmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 cow	cc
8	cow	cow	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 horse	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lose	participle							vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	return		his lost horse and cow						nom return «communication intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

the delivery of a live young eaglet

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 delivery	det
2	delivery	delivery	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	7 eaglet	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 eaglet	det
5	live	live	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 eaglet	amod
6	young	young	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 eaglet	amod
7	eaglet	eaglet	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 delivery	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	deliver			a live young eaglet					nom delivery «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

gold for the wedding

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	gold	gold	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	for	for	ADP	_	4 wedding	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 wedding	det
4	wedding	wedding	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 gold	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

the payment of a large dowry

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 payment	det
2	payment	payment	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 dowry	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 dowry	det
5	large	large	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 dowry	amod
6	dowry	dowry	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 payment	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pay			a large dowry					nom payment «possession transitive»: of=patient

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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