Exam question 2 · Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 2: yo, so…

Ascertain the reason for which a separate sign was adopted for the sound sh.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, adopt · To what, where: reason, separate sign

This is exam question 2 of lesson 88 «Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 2: yo, so, sho, shi, and shu-ya, the sky-water» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 adopted	obl
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 sign	det
7	separate	separate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 sign	amod
8	sign	sign	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 adopted	nsubj:pass
9	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 adopted	aux:pass
10	adopted	adopt	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 reason	acl:relcl
11	for	for	ADP	_	14 sh	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 sh	det
13	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 sh	compound
14	sh	sh	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 adopted	obl
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	adopt	past · passive		a separate sign				for the reason; for the sound sh	vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: subject=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 right answer

Lest «so» be confounded with «sho»

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Lest	lest	SCONJ	_	3 so	mark
2	«	«	PUNCT	_	3 so	punct
3	so	so	ADV	_	6 confounded	advcl
4	»	»	PUNCT	_	3 so	punct
5	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 confounded	aux:pass
6	confounded	confound	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	with	with	ADP	_	9 sho	case
8	«	«	PUNCT	_	9 sho	punct
9	sho	sho	NOUN	_	6 confounded	obl
10	»	»	PUNCT	_	6 confounded	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	confound	infinitive · passive						with sho	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»

Option 2

Lest «shi» be mixed with «so»

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Lest	lest	SCONJ	_	3 shi	case
2	«	«	PUNCT	_	3 shi	punct
3	shi	shi	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 mixed	obl
4	»	»	PUNCT	_	3 shi	punct
5	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 mixed	aux:pass
6	mixed	mix	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	with	with	ADP	_	9 so	case
8	«	«	PUNCT	_	9 so	punct
9	so	so	ADV	_	6 mixed	obl
10	»	»	PUNCT	_	6 mixed	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mix	infinitive · passive						lest shi	vn mix-22.1-1-1 «NP V PP.co-patient»: with so=Co-Patient

Option 3

For clarity

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	For	for	ADP	_	2 clarity	case
2	clarity	clarity	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4

To be quick

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	3 quick	mark
2	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	3 quick	cop
3	quick	quick	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	to-infinitive						quick property	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/88-justso-alphabet-2-shu-ya-sky-water/e2/