Exam question 3 · Andersen's Tales, The Ice Maiden, part 71: Rudy captures t…

According to the parlor-cat, what did the kiss between Rudy and Babette signify in the presence of the miller?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: kiss · What happens: accord, do, signify

This is exam question 3 of lesson 860 «Andersen's Tales, The Ice Maiden, part 71: Rudy captures the eaglet and brings it to the mill, while the Ice Maiden mocks the railway» 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	According	accord	VERB	ExtPos=ADP Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 cat	case
2	to	to	ADP	_	1 According	fixed
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 cat	det
4	parlor	parlor	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 cat	compound
5	-	-	PUNCT	_	4 parlor	punct
6	cat	cat	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 did	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 did	punct
8	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	9 did	nsubj
9	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 kiss	det
11	kiss	kiss	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 signify	nsubj
12	between	between	ADP	_	13 Rudy	case
13	Rudy	Rudy	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 kiss	nmod
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 Babette	cc
15	Babette	Babette	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 Rudy	conj
16	signify	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 did	parataxis
17	in	in	ADP	_	19 presence	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 presence	det
19	presence	presence	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 signify	obl
20	of	of	ADP	_	22 miller	case
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 miller	det
22	miller	miller	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 presence	nmod
23	?	?	PUNCT	_	9 did	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	accord	gerund			vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent
2	do	past		accord the parlor cat	vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	signify	present	the kiss between Rudy and Babette	in the presence of the miller	vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Pivot in presence=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

It meant nothing, dear.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 meant	nsubj
2	meant	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	nothing	nothing	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	2 meant	obj
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 dear	punct
5	dear	dear	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 nothing	amod
6	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 meant	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mean	past	It	nothing					vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Topic

Option 2

It showed a fondness, which the miller could not quite approve of at all.

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 showed	nsubj
2	showed	show	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 fondness	det
4	fondness	fondness	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 showed	obj
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 approve	punct
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 approve	obj
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 miller	det
8	miller	miller	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 approve	nsubj
9	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	12 approve	aux
10	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	12 approve	advmod
11	quite	quite	ADV	_	12 approve	advmod
12	approve	approve	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 fondness	acl:relcl
13	of	of	ADP	_	15 all	case
14	at	at	ADP	_	15 all	case
15	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	12 approve	obl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 showed	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	show	past	It	a fondness					vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent fondness=Recipient
2	not approve	could	the miller	a fondness				of all	vn allow-64.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Beneficiary

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It signified an engagement, which was as good as a formal betrothal.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 signified	nsubj
2	signified	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 engagement	det
4	engagement	engagement	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 signified	obj
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 good	punct
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 good	nsubj
7	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 good	cop
8	as	as	ADV	_	9 good	advmod
9	good	good	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 engagement	acl:relcl
10	as	as	ADP	_	13 betrothal	case
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 betrothal	det
12	formal	formal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 betrothal	amod
13	betrothal	betrothal	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 good	obl
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 signified	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signify	past	It	a engagement					vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot engagement=Theme
2	is	past	a engagement					as a formal betrothal; good property	tree rules

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

A simple friendly greeting.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 greeting	det
2	simple	simple	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 greeting	amod
3	friendly	friendly	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 greeting	amod
4	greeting	greeting	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	.	.	PUNCT	_	4 greeting	punct

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/860-pg27200-part71/e3/