Exam question 4 · Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 1: a carp…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the origin of the letter A in the real world?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: origin

This is exam question 4 of lesson 87 «Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 1: a carp-fish's mouth, a tail, an egg and a snake» 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	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 origin	det
10	origin	origin	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 letter	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 letter	det
13	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 origin	nmod
14	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 letter	appos
15	in	in	ADP	_	18 world	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 world	det
17	real	real	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 world	amod
18	world	world	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 A	nmod
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the origin of the letter				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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

It comes from a picture of a river and its banks

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 comes	nsubj
2	comes	come	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	5 picture	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 picture	det
5	picture	picture	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 comes	obl
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 river	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 river	det
8	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 picture	nmod
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 banks	cc
10	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 banks	nmod:poss
11	banks	bank	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 river	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	come	present	It			a picture of a river and picture's banks			vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from picture=Initial_Location

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

It derives from an ancient picture of the head of an ox

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 derives	nsubj
2	derives	derive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	6 picture	case
4	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 picture	det
5	ancient	ancient	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 picture	amod
6	picture	picture	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 derives	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 head	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 head	det
9	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 picture	nmod
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 ox	case
11	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 ox	det
12	ox	ox	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 head	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	derive	present	It			a ancient picture of the head of a ox			vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: agent=Agent from picture=Material

Option 3

It came from a picture of a bird

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 came	nsubj
2	came	come	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	5 picture	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 picture	det
5	picture	picture	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 came	obl
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 bird	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 bird	det
8	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 picture	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	come	past	It			a picture of a bird			vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from picture=Initial_Location

Option 4

It derives from an old drawing of a carp's open mouth

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 derives	nsubj
2	derives	derive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	6 drawing	case
4	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 drawing	det
5	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 drawing	amod
6	drawing	drawing	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 derives	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	12 mouth	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 carp	det
9	carp	carp	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 mouth	nmod:poss
10	's	's	PART	_	9 carp	case
11	open	open	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 mouth	amod
12	mouth	mouth	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 drawing	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	derive	present	It			a old drawing of a carp's open mouth			vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: agent=Agent from drawing=Material
2	draw		a carp's open mouth						nom drawing «communication intransitive»: of=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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