Exam question 1 · Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 3:…

Identify the explanation furnished by Taffy in respect of the «bad people» depicted upon the birch-bark.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, furnish, depict, respect · To what, where: explanation, respect, bad people

This is exam question 1 of lesson 86 «Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 3: «a great invention» and the road on Merrow Down» 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 explanation	det
3	explanation	explanation	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	furnished	furnish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 explanation	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 Taffy	case
6	Taffy	Taffy	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 furnished	obl
7	in	in	ADP	_	8 respect	case
8	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 furnished	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	13 people	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 people	det
11	«	«	PUNCT	_	13 people	punct
12	bad	bad	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 people	amod
13	people	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 respect	nmod
14	»	»	PUNCT	_	13 people	punct
15	depicted	depict	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 people	acl
16	upon	upon	ADP	_	20 bark	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 bark	det
18	birch	birch	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 bark	compound
19	-	-	PUNCT	_	18 birch	punct
20	bark	bark	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 depicted	obl
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the explanation			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent explanation=Theme
2	furnish	participle		the explanation not said here	respect of the bad people	by Taffy	vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	depict	participle		the bad people not said here		upon the birch bark	vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent
4	respect			the bad people			nom respect «cognition transitive»: of=patient

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

That they were Neolithic ladies

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	5 ladies	nsubj
2	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 ladies	nsubj
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 ladies	cop
4	Neolithic	neolithic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 ladies	amod
5	ladies	lady	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	That	Neolithic ladies					tree rules

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

That they were beavers, drawn to indicate the way through the swamp

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	4 beavers	nsubj
2	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 beavers	nsubj
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 beavers	cop
4	beavers	beaver	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 drawn	punct
6	drawn	draw	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 beavers	acl
7	to	to	PART	_	8 indicate	mark
8	indicate	indicate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 drawn	xcomp
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 way	det
10	way	way	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	roles by
1	is a	past	That	beavers		tree rules
2	draw	participle		beavers not said here		tree rules
3	indicate	to-infinitive		the way	the swamp	vn indicate-78-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot way=Topic

Option 3

That they were enemies of the Tribe

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	4 enemies	nsubj
2	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 enemies	nsubj
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 enemies	cop
4	enemies	enemy	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 Tribe	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Tribe	det
7	Tribe	Tribe	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 enemies	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	That	enemies				of the Tribe	tree rules

Option 4

That they were the soldiers of the Head Chief, advancing in Platoons and Detachments

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	5 soldiers	nsubj
2	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 soldiers	nsubj
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 soldiers	cop
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 soldiers	det
5	soldiers	soldier	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
6	of	of	ADP	_	9 Chief	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 Chief	det
8	Head	Head	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 Chief	compound
9	Chief	Chief	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 soldiers	nmod
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 advancing	punct
11	advancing	advance	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 soldiers	acl
12	in	in	ADP	_	13 Platoons	case
13	Platoons	platoon	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 advancing	obl
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 Detachments	cc
15	Detachments	detachment	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 Platoons	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	That	the soldiers				of the Head Chief	tree rules
2	advance	gerund	the soldiers not said here			Platoons and Detachments			vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=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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