Exam question 1 · Borrowed words: French, Norse and Latin

Identify the principal reason for which English designates the animal "cow" but its flesh "beef".

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, English, flesh · What happens: identify, designate, beef · To what, where: principal reason, animal

This is exam question 1 of lesson 23 «Borrowed words: French, Norse and Latin» of the language 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 designates	obl
7	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 designates	nsubj
8	designates	designate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl:relcl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 animal	det
10	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 designates	obj
11	"	"	PUNCT	_	12 cow	punct
12	cow	cow	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 designates	obj
13	"	"	PUNCT	_	12 cow	punct
14	but	but	CCONJ	_	18 beef	cc
15	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	16 flesh	nmod:poss
16	flesh	flesh	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 beef	nsubj
17	"	"	PUNCT	_	18 beef	punct
18	beef	beef	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 designates	conj
19	"	"	PUNCT	_	18 beef	punct
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	designate	present	English	the animal	for the principal reason	vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent animal=Theme cow=Attribute
3	beef in a quote		animal's flesh			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

Both terms derive from Old Norse, the former denoting the living beast and the latter its flesh when cooked

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Both	both	DET	PronType=Tot	2 terms	det
2	terms	term	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 derive	nsubj
3	derive	derive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 Norse	case
5	Old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 Norse	amod
6	Norse	Norse	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 derive	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 beast	punct
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 beast	det
9	former	former	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 beast	amod
10	denoting	denote	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	13 beast	amod
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 beast	det
12	living	living	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 beast	compound
13	beast	beast	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 Norse	appos
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	18 flesh	cc
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 latter	det
16	latter	latter	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 flesh	nsubj
17	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	18 flesh	nmod:poss
18	flesh	flesh	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 beast	conj
19	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	20 cooked	advmod
20	cooked	cook	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 derive	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	roles by
1	derive	present	both terms	Old Norse	vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: agent=Agent from norse=Material
2	denote	gerund			vn indicate-78 «NP V how S»: agent=Pivot
3	flesh		the latter		tree rules
4	cook	participle	both terms not said here		vn cooking-45.3 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 2

The term "beef" was devised by mediaeval butchers' guilds in order to distinguish their trade from that of farmers

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 term	det
2	term	term	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 devised	nsubj:pass
3	"	"	PUNCT	_	4 beef	punct
4	beef	beef	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 term	appos
5	"	"	PUNCT	_	4 beef	punct
6	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 devised	aux:pass
7	devised	devise	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
8	by	by	ADP	_	12 guilds	case
9	mediaeval	mediaeval	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 butchers	compound
10	butchers	butcher	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 guilds	nmod:poss
11	'	's	PART	_	10 butchers	case
12	guilds	guild	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 devised	obl
13	in	in	ADP	_	14 order	case
14	order	order	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 guilds	nmod
15	to	to	PART	_	16 distinguish	mark
16	distinguish	distinguish	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 devised	advcl
17	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	18 trade	nmod:poss
18	trade	trade	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 distinguish	obj
19	from	from	ADP	_	20 that	case
20	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	16 distinguish	obl
21	of	of	ADP	_	22 farmers	case
22	farmers	farmer	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 distinguish	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	devise	past · passive	mediaeval butchers's guilds in order	the term		vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient
2	distinguish	to-infinitive	mediaeval butchers's guilds in order not said here	guilds's trade	of farmers; from that	vn distinguish-23.5-1 «NP V NP.theme PP.co-theme»: agent=Agent trade=Theme from that=Co-Theme
3	trade		guilds = guild			nom trade «act transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Following 1066, French-speaking nobility consumed the meat while English-speaking labourers tended the livestock

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 1066	nsubj
2	1066	1066	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	8 consumed	obl
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 1066	punct
4	French	French	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 speaking	compound
5	-	-	PUNCT	_	4 French	punct
6	speaking	speak	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 nobility	amod
7	nobility	nobility	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 consumed	nsubj
8	consumed	consume	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 meat	det
10	meat	meat	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 consumed	obj
11	while	while	SCONJ	_	16 tended	mark
12	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 speaking	compound
13	-	-	PUNCT	_	12 English	punct
14	speaking	speak	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	15 labourers	amod
15	labourers	labourer	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 tended	nsubj
16	tended	tend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 consumed	advcl
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 livestock	det
18	livestock	livestock	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 tended	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	speak speech: other	gerund			vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	consume	past	speaking nobility	1066	vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meat=Asset
4	speak speech: other	gerund			vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent
5	tend	past	speaking labourers	the livestock	vn caring-75.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent livestock=Theme

Option 4

The term "cow" is of Latin origin

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 term	det
2	term	term	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 origin	nsubj
3	"	"	PUNCT	_	4 cow	punct
4	cow	cow	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 term	appos
5	"	"	PUNCT	_	4 cow	punct
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 origin	cop
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 origin	case
8	Latin	Latin	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 origin	amod
9	origin	origin	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the term					of Latin origin	tree rules

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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