Exam question 2 · Andersen's Tales, A Story from the Sand-Hills, part 2: a y…

With reference to the text, which statement best characterises the attitude of the snail toward the wider world?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: characteris · To what, where: attitude

This is exam question 2 of lesson 961 «Andersen's Tales, A Story from the Sand-Hills, part 2: a young Spanish couple sails toward Russia, but calm weather and then a storm blow their ship north» 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	10 characterises	obl
3	to	to	ADP	_	5 text	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 text	det
5	text	text	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reference	nmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 statement	punct
7	which	which	DET	PronType=Int	8 statement	det
8	statement	statement	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 text	appos
9	best	well	ADV	Degree=Sup	8 statement	advmod
10	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 attitude	det
12	attitude	attitude	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 characterises	obj
13	of	of	ADP	_	15 snail	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 snail	det
15	snail	snail	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 attitude	nmod
16	toward	toward	ADP	_	19 world	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 world	det
18	wider	wide	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	19 world	amod
19	world	world	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 snail	nmod
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	10 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	characteris	present		the attitude of the snail toward the wider world				with reference to the text	tree rules

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

He gives freely to the world and then turns his back on everyone.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 gives	nsubj
2	gives	give	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	freely	freely	ADV	_	2 gives	advmod
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 world	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 world	det
6	world	world	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 gives	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 turns	cc
8	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	9 turns	advmod
9	turns	turn	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 gives	conj
10	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 back	nmod:poss
11	back	back	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 turns	obj
12	on	on	ADP	_	13 everyone	case
13	everyone	everyone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Tot	9 turns	obl
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 gives	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	present	He		the world			freely property	vn give-13.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to world=Recipient
2	turn	present	He not said here	his back		everyone	then		vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent back=Theme

Option 2

He offers the world his help but then changes his mind and retreats.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 offers	nsubj
2	offers	offer	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 world	det
4	world	world	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 offers	obj
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 help	nmod:poss
6	help	help	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 offers	obj
7	but	but	CCONJ	_	9 changes	cc
8	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	9 changes	advmod
9	changes	change	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 offers	conj
10	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 mind	nmod:poss
11	mind	mind	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 changes	obj
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 retreats	cc
13	retreats	retreat	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 changes	conj
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 offers	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	offer	present	He	the world		vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.goal NP»: agent=Agent world=Goal help=Theme
2	change	present	He not said here	his mind	then	vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mind=Patient
3	retreat	present	He not said here			vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute
4	help		his = he			nom help «act transitive»: poss=agent
5	mind		his = he			nom mind «cognition transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

He declines to give anything to the world and withdraws entirely into himself.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 declines	nsubj
2	declines	decline	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 give	mark
4	give	give	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 declines	xcomp
5	anything	anything	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	4 give	obj
6	to	to	ADP	_	8 world	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 world	det
8	world	world	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 anything	nmod
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 withdraws	cc
10	withdraws	withdraw	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 declines	conj
11	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	10 withdraws	advmod
12	into	into	ADP	_	13 himself	case
13	himself	himself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	10 withdraws	obl
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 declines	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	other	roles by
1	decline	present	He				vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	not give	to-infinitive	He not said here	anything	the world		vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent anything=Theme to world=Recipient
3	withdraw	present	He not said here			into himself = he; entirely property	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme into himself=Initial_Location

Option 4

He gives the world all he has and then withdraws into himself because the world ignores him.

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 gives	nsubj
2	gives	give	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 world	det
4	world	world	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 gives	obj
5	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	7 has	nsubj
6	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 has	nsubj
7	has	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 world	acl:relcl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 withdraws	cc
9	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	10 withdraws	advmod
10	withdraws	withdraw	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 has	conj
11	into	into	ADP	_	12 himself	case
12	himself	himself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	10 withdraws	obl
13	because	because	SCONJ	_	16 ignores	mark
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 world	det
15	world	world	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 ignores	nsubj
16	ignores	ignore	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 withdraws	advcl
17	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	16 ignores	obj
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 gives	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	give	present	He	the world			vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent world=Theme
2	have	present	all	the world not said here			vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent world=Patient
3	withdraw	present	all not said here		then	into himself = he	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme into himself=Initial_Location
4	ignore	present	the world	him = he			vn neglect-75.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme

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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