Exam question 3 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 91: the m…

Which of the following correctly identifies the event the mermaid observed from the deck of the ship?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, identify, observe · To what, where: event, mermaid, deck

This is exam question 3 of lesson 880 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 91: the mermaid gets legs, dances for the prince, and sails away with him» 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	6 identifies	nsubj
2	of	of	SCONJ	_	6 identifies	mark
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 identifies	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 identifies	csubj
5	correctly	correctly	ADV	_	4 following	advmod
6	identifies	identify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 event	det
8	event	event	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 identifies	obj
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 mermaid	det
10	mermaid	mermaid	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 identifies	obj
11	observed	observe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 mermaid	acl
12	from	from	ADP	_	14 deck	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 deck	det
14	deck	deck	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 observed	obl
15	of	of	ADP	_	17 ship	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 ship	det
17	ship	ship	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 deck	nmod
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 identifies	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			correctly property	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	identify	present	the event			tree rules
3	observe	participle	the mermaid not said here	the deck of the ship		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: 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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Her sisters rising on the waves and wringing their white hands

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 sisters	nmod:poss
2	sisters	sister	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 rising	nsubj
3	rising	rise	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
4	on	on	ADP	_	6 waves	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 waves	det
6	waves	wave	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 rising	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 wringing	cc
8	wringing	wring	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 rising	conj
9	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 hands	nmod:poss
10	white	white	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 hands	amod
11	hands	hand	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 wringing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rise	gerund	Her sisters			the waves			vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on wave=Location
2	wring	gerund	Her sisters not said here	sisters's white hands					vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hand=Patient

Option 2

Her sisters diving down under the foam and waving their white arms

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 sisters	nmod:poss
2	sisters	sister	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 diving	nsubj
3	diving	dive	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
4	down	down	ADP	_	3 diving	compound:prt
5	under	under	ADP	_	7 foam	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 foam	det
7	foam	foam	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 diving	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 waving	cc
9	waving	wave	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 diving	conj
10	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 arms	nmod:poss
11	white	white	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 arms	amod
12	arms	arm	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 waving	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	dive down	gerund	Her sisters			the foam			vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent under foam=Location
2	wave	gerund	Her sisters not said here	sisters's white arms					vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent arm=Patient

Option 3

Her sisters rising on the waves and wringing their white hands, while the old Sea King watched from the deep below the ship

The tree, 23 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 sisters	nmod:poss
2	sisters	sister	NOUN	Number=Plur	18 watched	nsubj
3	rising	rise	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 sisters	acl
4	on	on	ADP	_	6 waves	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 waves	det
6	waves	wave	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 rising	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 wringing	cc
8	wringing	wring	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 rising	conj
9	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 hands	nmod:poss
10	white	white	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 hands	amod
11	hands	hand	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 wringing	obj
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 watched	punct
13	while	while	SCONJ	_	18 watched	mark
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 King	det
15	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 King	amod
16	Sea	Sea	PROPN	Number=Sing	17 King	compound
17	King	King	PROPN	Number=Sing	18 watched	nsubj
18	watched	watch	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
19	from	from	ADP	_	21 deep	case
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 deep	det
21	deep	deep	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 watched	obl
22	below	below	ADP	_	24 ship	case
23	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	24 ship	det
24	ship	ship	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 watched	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	rise	gerund	Her sisters not said here		the waves		vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on wave=Location
2	wring	gerund	Her sisters not said here	sisters's white hands			vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hand=Patient
3	watch	past	Her sisters		the deep	below the ship	vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent below ship=Location

Option 4

The sisters rising to the waves and singing a sad, sweet song

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 sisters	det
2	sisters	sister	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	rising	rise	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 sisters	acl
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 waves	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 waves	det
6	waves	wave	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 rising	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 singing	cc
8	singing	sing	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 rising	conj
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 song	det
10	sad	sad	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 song	amod
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 sad	punct
12	sweet	sweet	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 song	amod
13	song	song	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 singing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rise	gerund	the sisters not said here			the waves			vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to wave=Initial_Location
2	sing speech: express	gerund	the sisters not said here	a sad sweet song					vn sound_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location song=Theme

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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