Exam question 3 · Words that changed their meaning

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the Old English word "dēor".

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern · To what, where: response, Old English word

This is exam question 3 of lesson 38 «Words that changed their meaning» 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 word	det
11	Old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 word	amod
12	English	English	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 word	amod
13	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	15 dēor	punct
15	dēor	dēor	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 word	appos
16	"	"	PUNCT	_	15 dēor	punct
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the Old English word		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus word=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 · ✓ the right answer

It denoted any wild animal and subsequently narrowed to a single species

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 denoted	nsubj
2	denoted	denote	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	5 animal	det
4	wild	wild	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 animal	amod
5	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 denoted	obj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 narrowed	cc
7	subsequently	subsequently	ADV	_	8 narrowed	advmod
8	narrowed	narrow	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 denoted	conj
9	to	to	ADP	_	12 species	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 species	det
11	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 species	amod
12	species	species	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 narrowed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	denote	past	It	any wild animal					vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot animal=Topic
2	narrow	participle						to a single species; subsequently property	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

It denoted a domestic dog and subsequently a deer

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 denoted	nsubj
2	denoted	denote	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 dog	det
4	domestic	domestic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 dog	amod
5	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 denoted	obj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 deer	cc
7	subsequently	subsequently	ADV	_	9 deer	advmod
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 deer	det
9	deer	deer	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 dog	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	denote	past	It	a domestic dog and a deer					vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot dog=Topic

Option 3

It denoted exclusively the animal now termed a deer, and nothing else whatsoever

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 denoted	nsubj
2	denoted	denote	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	2 denoted	advmod
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 animal	det
5	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 termed	nsubj
6	now	now	ADV	PronType=Dem	7 termed	advmod
7	termed	term	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 denoted	parataxis
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 deer	det
9	deer	deer	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 termed	obj
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 nothing	punct
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 nothing	cc
12	nothing	nothing	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	2 denoted	parataxis
13	else	else	ADV	_	12 nothing	advmod
14	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	2 denoted	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	denote	past	It					exclusively, whatsoever property	vn indicate-78 «NP V how S»: agent=Pivot
2	term	past	the animal	a deer			now		vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent deer=Theme

Option 4

It denoted a forest and subsequently an animal

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 denoted	nsubj
2	denoted	denote	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 forest	det
4	forest	forest	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 denoted	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 subsequently	cc
6	subsequently	subsequently	ADV	_	2 denoted	conj
7	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 animal	det
8	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 denoted	obl:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	denote	past	It	a forest				a animal obl:unmarked	vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot forest=Topic

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/language/38-words-that-changed-their-meaning/e3/