Exam question 2 · Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 3: «the A…

Ascertain the content of the message chalked upon the water-tank on the following morning.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, content · What happens: ascertain, chalk, follow

This is exam question 2 of lesson 89 «Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 3: «the Alphabet, all complete», and how letters really began» 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 content	det
3	content	content	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 chalked	nsubj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 message	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 message	det
6	message	message	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 content	nmod
7	chalked	chalk	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	1 Ascertain	parataxis
8	upon	upon	ADP	_	12 tank	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 tank	det
10	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 tank	compound
11	-	-	PUNCT	_	10 water	punct
12	tank	tank	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 chalked	obl
13	on	on	ADP	_	16 morning	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 morning	det
15	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	16 morning	amod
16	morning	morning	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 chalked	obl
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here			vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
2	chalk	past	the content of the message	morning	upon the water tank	vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=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

Shu-ya, the rain was coming

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Shu	shu	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 ya	compound
2	-	-	PUNCT	_	1 Shu	punct
3	ya	ya	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 coming	nsubj
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 rain	punct
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 rain	det
6	rain	rain	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 ya	conj
7	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 coming	aux
8	coming	come	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	come	past · progressive	Shu ya and the rain						vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

Ya-las, the water was ending, so fetch some from the spring

The tree, 12 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Ya	Ya	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 las	compound
2	-	-	PUNCT	_	1 Ya	punct
3	las	la	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 ending	dislocated
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 las	punct
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 water	det
6	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 ending	nsubj
7	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 ending	aux
8	ending	end	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 fetch	punct
10	so	so	ADV	_	11 fetch	advmod
11	fetch	fetch	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	8 ending	parataxis
12	some	some	DET	PronType=Ind	11 fetch	obj
13	from	from	ADP	_	15 spring	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 spring	det
15	spring	spring	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 fetch	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	end	past · progressive	the water					Ya las dislocated	vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
2	fetch	infinitive		some			spring		vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent some=Theme

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

Ya-las, the water was ending

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Ya	Ya	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 las	compound
2	-	-	PUNCT	_	1 Ya	punct
3	las	la	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 ending	dislocated
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 las	punct
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 water	det
6	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 ending	nsubj
7	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 ending	aux
8	ending	end	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	end	past · progressive	the water					Ya las dislocated	vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality

Option 4

Ya-las, the water was ending, and Mummy must boil it first

The tree, 12 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Ya	Ya	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 las	compound
2	-	-	PUNCT	_	1 Ya	punct
3	las	la	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 ending	dislocated
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 las	punct
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 water	det
6	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 ending	nsubj
7	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 ending	aux
8	ending	end	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 boil	punct
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 boil	cc
11	Mummy	Mummy	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 boil	nsubj
12	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	13 boil	aux
13	boil	boil	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 ending	conj
14	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 boil	obj
15	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	13 boil	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	end	past · progressive	the water					Ya las dislocated	vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
2	boil	must	Mummy	water				first property	vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent it=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.

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