Exam question 4 · Fairy Tales, The Little Elder-Tree Mother, part 82: Little…

Which of the following accurately describes the relationship between the old man and the children whose tales he tells?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: tales · What happens: follow, describe, tell · To what, where: relationship · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 4 of lesson 871 «Fairy Tales, The Little Elder-Tree Mother, part 82: Little Claus tricks Great Claus into the river, and an old man begins a story from the teapot» 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	4 following	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 following	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 following	det
4	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	6 describes	advmod
6	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 following	advcl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 relationship	det
8	relationship	relationship	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 describes	obj
9	between	between	ADP	_	12 man	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 man	det
11	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 man	amod
12	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 relationship	nmod
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 children	cc
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 children	det
15	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 relationship	conj
16	whose	whose	PRON	Poss=Yes PronType=Rel	17 tales	nmod:poss
17	tales	tale	NOUN	Number=Plur	19 tells	nsubj
18	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	19 tells	nsubj
19	tells	tell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 children	acl:relcl
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 following	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	describe	present		the relationship and the children	between the old man; accurately property	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent relationship=Theme
3	tell speech: assert	present	tales			vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

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

He is their teacher, paid by their parents

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 teacher	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 teacher	cop
3	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 teacher	nmod:poss
4	teacher	teacher	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 paid	punct
6	paid	pay	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 teacher	acl
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 parents	case
8	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 parents	nmod:poss
9	parents	parent	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 paid	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	He	their teacher					tree rules
2	pay	participle		their teacher not said here				by their parents	vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 2

He is their father, and they live in the upper storey

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 father	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 father	cop
3	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 father	nmod:poss
4	father	father	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 live	punct
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 live	cc
7	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 live	nsubj
8	live	live	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 father	acl:relcl
9	in	in	ADP	_	12 storey	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 storey	det
11	upper	upper	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 storey	amod
12	storey	storey	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 live	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	He	their father					tree rules
2	live	present	they	their father not said here		the upper storey			vn lodge-46 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme father=Location

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

He loves them, though he has no children of his own

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 loves	nsubj
2	loves	love	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 loves	obj
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 has	punct
5	though	though	SCONJ	_	7 has	mark
6	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 has	nsubj
7	has	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 loves	parataxis
8	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	9 children	det
9	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 has	obj
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 own	case
11	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 own	nmod:poss
12	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 children	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	love	present	He	them = they					vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer they=Stimulus
2	have	present	he	no children of his own					vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent child=Patient

Option 4

He is their uncle, who visits them every week

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 uncle	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 uncle	cop
3	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 uncle	nmod:poss
4	uncle	uncle	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 visits	punct
6	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 visits	nsubj
7	visits	visit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 uncle	acl:relcl
8	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 visits	obj
9	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	10 week	det
10	week	week	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 visits	obl:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	He	their uncle					tree rules
2	visit	present	their uncle	them = they			week		vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Co-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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