Exam question 2 · Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Nightingale: the clockwork bir…

Which mechanical fault rendered the bird unable to perform, and what did the watchmaker state regarding its repair?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: mechanical fault, fault · What happens: fault, render, perform, do, regard, repair · To what, where: bird, watchmaker state

This is exam question 2 of lesson 913 «Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Nightingale: the clockwork bird breaks, and the real nightingale saves the dying emperor» 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	3 fault	nsubj
2	mechanical	mechanical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 fault	amod
3	fault	fault	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 rendered	nsubj
4	rendered	render	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 bird	det
6	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 rendered	obj
7	unable	unable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 rendered	xcomp
8	to	to	PART	_	9 perform	mark
9	perform	perform	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 unable	xcomp
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 did	punct
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 did	cc
12	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	13 did	nsubj
13	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 rendered	conj
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 state	det
15	watchmaker	watchmaker	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 state	compound
16	state	state	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 did	obj
17	regarding	regard	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	19 repair	case
18	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	19 repair	nmod:poss
19	repair	repair	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 state	nmod
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 rendered	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	fault					tree rules
2	render	past	mechanical fault	the bird	unable property	vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bird=Theme
3	perform	to-infinitive	mechanical fault not said here			vn performance-26.7 «NP V»: agent=Agent
4	do	past		the watchmaker state	regard fault's repair	vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent state=Eventuality
5	regard	gerund				vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
6	repair		fault			nom repair «act transitive»: poss=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

A cracked spring; the barrels were worn, so it could play only once a year

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 spring	det
2	cracked	crack	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 spring	amod
3	spring	spring	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 worn	obl:unmarked
4	;	;	PUNCT	_	3 spring	punct
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 barrels	det
6	barrels	barrel	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 worn	nsubj:pass
7	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 worn	aux:pass
8	worn	wear	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 play	punct
10	so	so	ADV	_	13 play	advmod
11	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 play	nsubj
12	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	13 play	aux
13	play	play	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 worn	conj
14	only	only	ADV	_	15 once	advmod
15	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	13 play	advmod
16	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 year	det
17	year	year	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 once	obl:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	crack	participle					vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	wear	past · passive		the barrels	spring		vn wipe_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: subject=Theme
3	play	could	it			once property	vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

A snapped wire; the pins were dull, so it sang one time a year

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 wire	det
2	snapped	snap	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 wire	amod
3	wire	wire	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 dull	nsubj
4	;	;	PUNCT	_	8 dull	punct
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 pins	det
6	pins	pin	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 dull	nsubj
7	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 dull	cop
8	dull	dull	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 sang	punct
10	so	so	ADV	_	12 sang	advmod
11	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 sang	nsubj
12	sang	sing	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 dull	conj
13	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	14 time	nummod
14	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 sang	obj
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 year	det
16	year	year	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 sang	obl:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	when	other	roles by
1	snap	participle				vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	is	past	a snapped wire		dull property	tree rules
3	sing speech: express	past	wire	time; year		vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3

A cracked spring

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 spring	det
2	cracked	crack	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 spring	amod
3	spring	spring	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	crack	participle							vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

A bent gear; the cogs were rusted, so it could play rarely at all

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 gear	det
2	bent	bent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 gear	amod
3	gear	gear	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 rusted	nsubj:pass
4	;	;	PUNCT	_	3 gear	punct
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 cogs	det
6	cogs	cog	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 rusted	nsubj:pass
7	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 rusted	aux:pass
8	rusted	rust	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 play	punct
10	so	so	ADV	_	13 play	advmod
11	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 play	nsubj
12	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	13 play	aux
13	play	play	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 rusted	conj
14	rarely	rarely	ADV	_	13 play	advmod
15	at	at	ADP	_	16 all	case
16	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	13 play	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rust	past · passive		a bent gear					tree rules
2	play	could	gear			all		rarely property	vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

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/913-pg27200-part124/e2/