Exam question 1 · Andersen's Tales, The Old Grave-Stone, part 131: the old g…

With reference to the passage, state the purpose for which the household employed the old grave-stone in the courtyard.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: household · What happens: employ · To what, where: old grave stone, courtyard

This is exam question 1 of lesson 920 «Andersen's Tales, The Old Grave-Stone, part 131: the old grave-stone is remembered, and a new tale begins with an old house and a leaking dragon gutter» 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	With	with	ADP	_	2 reference	case
2	reference	reference	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	to	to	ADP	_	5 passage	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 passage	det
5	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reference	nmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 state	punct
7	state	state	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 passage	conj
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 purpose	det
9	purpose	purpose	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 passage	conj
10	for	for	ADP	_	11 which	case
11	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	14 employed	obl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 household	det
13	household	household	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 employed	nsubj
14	employed	employ	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 purpose	acl:relcl
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 stone	det
16	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 stone	amod
17	grave	grave	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 stone	compound
18	-	-	PUNCT	_	17 grave	punct
19	stone	stone	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 employed	obj
20	in	in	ADP	_	22 courtyard	case
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 courtyard	det
22	courtyard	courtyard	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 stone	nmod
23	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 reference	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	employ	past	the household	the old grave stone		the courtyard		for the purpose	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: agent=Agent stone=Theme for which=Eventuality

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

It was placed there so that the household could rest their washing and dry the copper saucepans in the sunny yard

The tree, 21 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 placed	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 placed	aux:pass
3	placed	place	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	there	there	ADV	PronType=Dem	3 placed	advmod
5	so	so	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	10 rest	mark
6	that	that	SCONJ	_	5 so	fixed
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 household	det
8	household	household	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 rest	nsubj
9	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	10 rest	aux
10	rest	rest	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 placed	advcl
11	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 washing	nmod:poss
12	washing	washing	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 rest	obj
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 dry	cc
14	dry	dry	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 rest	conj
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 saucepans	det
16	copper	copper	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 saucepans	compound
17	saucepans	saucepan	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 dry	obj
18	in	in	ADP	_	21 yard	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 yard	det
20	sunny	sunny	ADJ	Degree=Pos	21 yard	amod
21	yard	yard	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 dry	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	place	past · passive		It	there		vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: subject=Theme
2	rest	could	the household	their washing			vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location washing=Theme
3	dry	infinitive	the household not said here	the copper saucepans		in the sunny yard	vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient saucepan=Result
4	wash		their = they				nom washing «act transitive»: poss=agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

It served to dry copper saucepans in the sun

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 served	nsubj
2	served	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 dry	mark
4	dry	dry	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 served	xcomp
5	copper	copper	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 saucepans	compound
6	saucepans	saucepan	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 dry	obj
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 sun	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 sun	det
9	sun	sun	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 dry	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	serve	past	It						tree rules
2	dry	to-infinitive		copper saucepans		the sun			vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient saucepan=Result

Option 3

It helped the maids to wash the saucepans

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 helped	nsubj
2	helped	help	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 maids	det
4	maids	maid	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 helped	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 wash	mark
6	wash	wash	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 helped	xcomp
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 saucepans	det
8	saucepans	saucepan	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 wash	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	help	past	It	the maids					vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent maid=Beneficiary clause=Theme
2	wash	to-infinitive	the maids not said here	the saucepans					vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent saucepan=Patient

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

The maids used it to lay out and dry the heavy copper saucepans every single morning in the bright sun

The tree, 20 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 maids	det
2	maids	maid	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 used	nsubj
3	used	use	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 used	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 lay	mark
6	lay	lay	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 used	advcl
7	out	out	ADP	_	6 lay	compound:prt
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 dry	cc
9	dry	dry	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 lay	conj
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 saucepans	det
11	heavy	heavy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 saucepans	amod
12	copper	copper	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 saucepans	compound
13	saucepans	saucepan	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 lay	obj
14	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	16 morning	det
15	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 morning	amod
16	morning	morning	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 lay	obl:unmarked
17	in	in	ADP	_	20 sun	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 sun	det
19	bright	bright	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 sun	amod
20	sun	sun	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 lay	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	roles by
1	use	past	the maids	it			vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient
2	lay out	to-infinitive	the maids not said here	the heavy copper saucepans	the bright sun	morning	vn put_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent saucepan=Theme in sun=Destination
3	dry	infinitive	the maids not said here				vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=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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