Exam question 2 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 89: the m…

What, according to the grandmother, distinguishes human beings from mermaids?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: accord, distinguish · To what, where: grandmother, human beings

This is exam question 2 of lesson 878 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 89: the mermaid watches the prince's palace and dreams of a soul» 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	PRON	PronType=Int	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 according	punct
3	according	accord	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	1 What	advcl
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 grandmother	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 grandmother	det
6	grandmother	grandmother	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 according	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 distinguishes	punct
8	distinguishes	distinguish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 What	acl:relcl
9	human	human	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 beings	amod
10	beings	being	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 distinguishes	obj
11	from	from	ADP	_	12 mermaids	case
12	mermaids	mermaid	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 beings	nmod
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	1 What	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	accord	gerund			the grandmother				vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent to grandmother=Goal
2	distinguish	present		human beings				from mermaids	vn distinguish-23.5-1 «NP V NP.theme PP.co-theme»: agent=Agent being=Theme from mermaid=Co-Theme

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 power of living in the sea

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 power	det
2	power	power	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	SCONJ	_	4 living	mark
4	living	live	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 power	acl
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 sea	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 sea	det
7	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 living	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	live	gerund	the power not said here			the sea			vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in sea=Location

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

the possession of an immortal soul

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 possession	det
2	possession	possession	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 soul	case
4	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 soul	det
5	immortal	immortal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 soul	amod
6	soul	soul	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 possession	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess			a immortal soul					nom possession «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

the ability to walk on land and to live beyond the sea forever

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 ability	det
2	ability	ability	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 walk	mark
4	walk	walk	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 ability	acl
5	on	on	ADP	_	6 land	case
6	land	land	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 walk	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 live	cc
8	to	to	PART	_	9 live	mark
9	live	live	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 walk	conj
10	beyond	beyond	ADP	_	12 sea	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 sea	det
12	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 live	obl
13	forever	forever	ADV	_	9 live	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	walk	to-infinitive				land			vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on land=Trajectory
2	live	to-infinitive				the sea		forever property	vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme beyond sea=Location

Option 4

the possession of two legs and a human heart and mind

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 possession	det
2	possession	possession	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 legs	case
4	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	5 legs	nummod
5	legs	leg	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 possession	nmod
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 heart	cc
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 heart	det
8	human	human	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 heart	amod
9	heart	heart	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 legs	conj
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 mind	cc
11	mind	mind	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 legs	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess			two legs and a human heart and mind					nom possession «act transitive»: of=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/878-pg27200-part89/e2/