Exam question 1 · Andersen, The Philosopher's Stone, part 150: the Seer's ey…

In what manner did the evil spirit impair the vision of the eldest brother?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: evil spirit · What happens: impair · To what, where: vision, manner

This is exam question 1 of lesson 939 «Andersen, The Philosopher's Stone, part 150: the Seer's eyes are clouded, the Hearer's ears burst, and the third brother sets out» 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	In	in	ADP	_	3 manner	case
2	what	what	DET	PronType=Int	3 manner	det
3	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 impair	obl
4	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 impair	aux
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 spirit	det
6	evil	evil	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 spirit	amod
7	spirit	spirit	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 impair	nsubj
8	impair	impair	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 vision	det
10	vision	vision	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 impair	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 brother	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 brother	det
13	eldest	eld	ADJ	Degree=Sup	14 brother	amod
14	brother	brother	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 vision	nmod
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 impair	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	impair	past · do-support	the evil spirit	the vision of the eldest brother		what manner			vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus vision=Experiencer

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

By throwing stones at his window at night

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 throwing	mark
2	throwing	throw	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	stones	stone	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 throwing	obj
4	at	at	ADP	_	6 window	case
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 window	nmod:poss
6	window	window	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 throwing	obl
7	at	at	ADP	_	8 night	case
8	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 throwing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	throw	gerund		stones		his window	night		vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent stone=Theme at window=Destination

Option 2

By blowing sand into his ears, which then became drums

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 blowing	mark
2	blowing	blow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	sand	sand	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 blowing	obj
4	into	into	ADP	_	6 ears	case
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 ears	nmod:poss
6	ears	ear	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 blowing	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 became	punct
8	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 became	nsubj
9	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	10 became	advmod
10	became	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 ears	acl:relcl
11	drums	drum	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 became	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	blow	gerund		sand		his ears			vn build-26.1 «NP V NP.material PP.product»: agent=Agent sand=Material into ear=Product
2	become	past	his ears	drums			then		vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

By blowing motes into his eyes, which then became beams

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 blowing	mark
2	blowing	blow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	motes	mote	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 blowing	obj
4	into	into	ADP	_	6 eyes	case
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 eyes	nmod:poss
6	eyes	eye	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 blowing	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 became	punct
8	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 became	nsubj
9	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	10 became	advmod
10	became	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 eyes	acl:relcl
11	beams	beam	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 became	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	blow	gerund		motes		his eyes			vn build-26.1 «NP V NP.material PP.product»: agent=Agent mote=Material into eye=Product
2	become	past	his eyes	beams			then		vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient

Option 4

By whispering lies into his ear softly

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 whispering	mark
2	whispering	whisper	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 lies	nsubj
3	lies	lie	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	into	into	ADP	_	6 ear	case
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 ear	nmod:poss
6	ear	ear	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 lies	obl
7	softly	softly	ADV	_	3 lies	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	whisper speech: assert	gerund							vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	lie	present				his ear		softly property	vn assuming_position-50 «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/939-pg27200-part150/e1/