Exam question 3 · Andersen's Tales, The Philosopher's Stone, part 149: a wis…

According to the passage, what is the philosopher's stone understood to represent?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: stone · What happens: accord, be, understand, represent · To what, where: stone

This is exam question 3 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	According	accord	VERB	ExtPos=ADP Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 passage	case
2	to	to	ADP	_	1 According	fixed
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 passage	det
4	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 understood	obl
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 stone	punct
6	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	11 stone	nsubj
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 stone	cop
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 philosopher	det
9	philosopher	philosopher	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 stone	nmod:poss
10	's	's	PART	_	9 philosopher	case
11	stone	stone	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 understood	nsubj
12	understood	understand	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
13	to	to	PART	_	14 represent	mark
14	represent	represent	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 understood	xcomp
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	12 understood	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	accord	gerund				vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent
2	is a	present		the philosopher's stone		tree rules
3	understand	past	the philosopher's stone		accord the passage	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus
4	represent	to-infinitive	the philosopher's stone not said here			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: 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 · ✓ the right answer

A jewel formed when the true, the beautiful, and the good are united

The tree, 13 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 jewel	det
2	jewel	jewel	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 true	nsubj
3	formed	form	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 true	nsubj
4	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	6 true	advmod
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 true	det
6	true	true	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 beautiful	punct
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 beautiful	det
9	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 true	conj
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 good	punct
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 good	cc
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 good	det
13	good	good	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 true	conj
14	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 united	cop
15	united	united	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 true	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	form	participle							vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	is	present						united property	tree rules

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

A precious object that changes base metals into gold by alchemy

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 object	det
2	precious	precious	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 object	amod
3	object	object	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 changes	nsubj
5	changes	change	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 object	acl:relcl
6	base	base	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 metals	compound
7	metals	metal	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 changes	obj
8	into	into	ADP	_	9 gold	case
9	gold	gold	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 changes	obl
10	by	by	ADP	_	11 alchemy	case
11	alchemy	alchemy	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 changes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	change	present	a precious object	base metals				into gold result; by alchemy	vn turn-26.6.1-1 «NP V NP.patient PP.result»: agent=Agent metal=Patient into gold=Result

Option 3

A gem of pure gold and light

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 gem	det
2	gem	gem	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 gold	case
4	pure	pure	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 gold	amod
5	gold	gold	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 gem	nmod
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 light	cc
7	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 gold	conj

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4

A jewel of the sun and moon

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 jewel	det
2	jewel	jewel	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 sun	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 sun	det
5	sun	sun	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 jewel	nmod
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 moon	cc
7	moon	moon	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 sun	conj

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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/938-pg27200-part149/e3/