Exam question 4 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 87: the s…

What reason does the narrator give for the grandmother's use of the word "fishes" when speaking of birds to her granddaughters?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: reason, grandmother · What happens: give, speak, use · To what, where: word · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 4 of lesson 876 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 87: the sea-princesses dream of the world above the waves» 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 reason	det
2	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 give	nsubj:outer
3	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 give	aux
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 narrator	det
5	narrator	narrator	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 give	nsubj
6	give	give	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
7	for	for	ADP	_	11 use	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 grandmother	det
9	grandmother	grandmother	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 use	nmod:poss
10	's	's	PART	_	9 grandmother	case
11	use	use	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 give	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 word	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 word	det
14	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 use	nmod
15	"	"	PUNCT	_	16 fishes	punct
16	fishes	fish	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 word	appos
17	"	"	PUNCT	_	16 fishes	punct
18	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	19 speaking	advmod
19	speaking	speak	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 give	advcl
20	of	of	ADP	_	21 birds	case
21	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	19 speaking	obl
22	to	to	ADP	_	24 granddaughters	case
23	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	24 granddaughters	nmod:poss
24	granddaughters	granddaughter	NOUN	Number=Plur	19 speaking	obl
25	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 give	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	give	present · do-support	what reason		for the grandmother's use of the word	vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent for use=Asset
2	speak speech: other	gerund	what reason not said here		of birds; to narrator's granddaughters	vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to granddaughter=Co-Agent
3	use		the grandmother	the word		nom use «act transitive»: poss=agent 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 · ← Mova's choice

the birds were odd, and the granddaughters had only ever seen fishes in the sea

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 birds	det
2	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 odd	nsubj
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 odd	cop
4	odd	odd	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 fishes	amod
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 seen	punct
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 seen	cc
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 granddaughters	det
8	granddaughters	granddaughter	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 seen	nsubj:pass
9	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	12 seen	aux
10	only	only	ADV	_	12 seen	advmod
11	ever	ever	ADV	PronType=Ind	12 seen	advmod
12	seen	see	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 fishes	amod
13	fishes	fish	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
14	in	in	ADP	_	16 sea	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 sea	det
16	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 fishes	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	the birds					odd property	tree rules
2	see	past · perfect · passive		the granddaughters			ever		vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

the granddaughter had never beheld a bird, so she would not otherwise have understood

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 granddaughter	det
2	granddaughter	granddaughter	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 beheld	nsubj:pass
3	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 beheld	aux
4	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	5 beheld	advmod
5	beheld	behold	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 bird	det
7	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 beheld	obj
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 understood	punct
9	so	so	ADV	_	15 understood	advmod
10	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 understood	nsubj
11	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	15 understood	aux
12	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	15 understood	advmod
13	otherwise	otherwise	ADV	_	15 understood	advmod
14	have	have	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	15 understood	aux
15	understood	understand	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	5 beheld	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not behold	past · perfect · passive		the granddaughter					tree rules
2	not understand	would · perfect	bird					otherwise property	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer

Option 3

because the granddaughter had never beheld a bird in the sea, and the word was all she knew of such things at home beneath the waves

The tree, 26 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	because	because	SCONJ	_	6 beheld	mark
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 granddaughter	det
3	granddaughter	granddaughter	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 beheld	nsubj:pass
4	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 beheld	aux
5	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	6 beheld	advmod
6	beheld	behold	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 bird	det
8	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 beheld	obj
9	in	in	ADP	_	11 sea	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 sea	det
11	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 beheld	obl
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 word	punct
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 word	cc
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 word	det
15	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 beheld	obl
16	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	19 knew	cop
17	all	all	ADV	_	19 knew	advmod
18	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	19 knew	nsubj
19	knew	know	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	15 word	acl:relcl
20	of	of	ADP	_	22 things	case
21	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	22 things	amod
22	things	thing	NOUN	Number=Plur	19 knew	obl
23	at	at	ADP	_	24 home	case
24	home	home	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 knew	obl
25	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	27 waves	case
26	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	27 waves	det
27	waves	wave	NOUN	Number=Plur	19 knew	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not behold	past · perfect · passive		the granddaughter		the sea		the word obl	tree rules
2	is	past	bird	the word not said here		home		of such things; beneath the waves; all, know property	tree rules

Option 4

the birds swam low beneath the waves, like the fish they resembled in every way

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 birds	det
2	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 swam	nsubj
3	swam	swim	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	low	low	ADV	Degree=Pos	3 swam	advmod
5	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	7 waves	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 waves	det
7	waves	wave	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 swam	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 resembled	punct
9	like	like	ADP	_	11 fish	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 fish	det
11	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 resembled	obl
12	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 resembled	nsubj
13	resembled	resemble	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 swam	conj
14	in	in	ADP	_	16 way	case
15	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	16 way	det
16	way	way	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 resembled	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	swim	past	the birds			the waves		low property	vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme beneath wave=Trajectory
2	resemble	past	birds = bird			every way		like the fish	tree rules

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/876-pg27200-part87/e4/