Exam question 1 · Andersen's Tales, The Philosopher's Stone, part 149: a wis…

Which of the following best describes the wise man's principal source of unease, as set out in the passage?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, describe, set out · To what, where: principal source, passage

This is exam question 1 of lesson 938 «Andersen's Tales, The Philosopher's Stone, part 149: a wise man in a crystal castle fears death and teaches his children about the philosopher's stone» 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 describes	obj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 best	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 best	det
4	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 best	case
5	best	good	ADJ	Degree=Sup	6 describes	nmod
6	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 man	det
8	wise	wise	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 man	amod
9	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 source	nmod:poss
10	's	's	PART	_	9 man	case
11	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 source	amod
12	source	source	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 describes	obj
13	of	of	ADP	_	14 unease	case
14	unease	unease	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 source	nmod
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 set	punct
16	as	as	SCONJ	_	17 set	mark
17	set	set	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 describes	conj
18	out	out	ADP	_	17 set	compound:prt
19	in	in	ADP	_	21 passage	case
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 passage	det
21	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 set	obl
22	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 describes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	describe	present	the wise man's principal source of unease		of the best	tree rules
3	set out	participle		the passage		vn escape-51.1-1 «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

The constant worry that his sons will abandon the castle, his daughter will remain blind, and the book will be taken from him forever

The tree, 24 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 worry	det
2	constant	constant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 worry	amod
3	worry	worry	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 abandon	obj
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 sons	nmod:poss
6	sons	son	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 abandon	nsubj
7	will	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	8 abandon	aux
8	abandon	abandon	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 worry	acl:relcl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 castle	det
10	castle	castle	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 abandon	obj
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 remain	punct
12	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 daughter	nmod:poss
13	daughter	daughter	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 remain	nsubj
14	will	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	15 remain	aux
15	remain	remain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 abandon	conj
16	blind	blind	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 remain	xcomp
17	,	,	PUNCT	_	23 taken	punct
18	and	and	CCONJ	_	23 taken	cc
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 book	det
20	book	book	NOUN	Number=Sing	23 taken	nsubj:pass
21	will	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	23 taken	aux
22	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	23 taken	aux:pass
23	taken	take	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 worry	acl
24	from	from	ADP	_	25 him	case
25	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	23 taken	obl
26	forever	forever	ADV	_	23 taken	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	abandon	future	his sons	the constant worry		tree rules
2	remain	future	his daughter		blind property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	take	future · passive	the constant worry not said here	the book	from him = he; forever property	vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial_location»: subject=Theme from he=Initial_Location

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

His acknowledged mortality and his inability to discover the nature of life after death

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	His	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 mortality	nmod:poss
2	acknowledged	acknowledge	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 mortality	amod
3	mortality	mortality	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 discover	nsubj
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 inability	cc
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 inability	nmod:poss
6	inability	inability	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 mortality	conj
7	to	to	PART	_	8 discover	mark
8	discover	discover	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 nature	det
10	nature	nature	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 discover	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 life	case
12	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 nature	nmod
13	after	after	ADP	_	14 death	case
14	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 discover	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	acknowledge	participle							vn confess-37.10 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
2	discover	to-infinitive	His acknowledged mortality and his inability	the nature of life			after death		vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nature=Topic

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

His recognition that he must die, combined with his frustration that the book's final pages on the afterlife remain unreadable to him

The tree, 23 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	His	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 recognition	nmod:poss
2	recognition	recognition	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 remain	nsubj
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	6 die	mark
4	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 die	nsubj
5	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 die	aux
6	die	die	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 recognition	acl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 combined	punct
8	combined	combine	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 recognition	acl
9	with	with	ADP	_	11 frustration	case
10	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 frustration	nmod:poss
11	frustration	frustration	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 combined	obl
12	that	that	SCONJ	_	17 pages	mark
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 book	det
14	book	book	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 pages	nmod:poss
15	's	's	PART	_	14 book	case
16	final	final	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 pages	amod
17	pages	page	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 frustration	nmod
18	on	on	ADP	_	20 afterlife	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 afterlife	det
20	afterlife	afterlife	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 pages	nmod
21	remain	remain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
22	unreadable	unreadable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	21 remain	xcomp
23	to	to	ADP	_	24 him	case
24	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	22 unreadable	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	die	must	recognition	His recognition not said here			tree rules
2	combine	participle		His recognition not said here		with recognition's frustration the book's final pages on the afterlife	vn mix-22.1-1-1 «NP V PP.co-patient»: agent=Patient with frustration=Co-Patient
3	remain	present	His recognition			unreadable property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
4	recognize		His = he				nom recognition «state transitive»: poss=agent
5	frustrate		recognition				nom frustration «feeling transitive»: poss=agent
6	page		the book		the afterlife		nom page «communication transitive»: poss=agent on=place

Option 4

His growing blindness and his failing memory of the old stories

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	His	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 blindness	nmod:poss
2	growing	grow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 blindness	amod
3	blindness	blindness	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 memory	cc
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 memory	nmod:poss
6	failing	fail	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 memory	amod
7	memory	memory	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 blindness	conj
8	of	of	ADP	_	11 stories	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 stories	det
10	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 stories	amod
11	stories	story	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 memory	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	grow	gerund							vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	fail	gerund							vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «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.

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