TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you're given passages that contain mentions of names of people, places, or things. Some of these mentions refer to the same person, place, or thing. Your job is to write questions that evaluate one's understanding of such references. Good questions are expected to link pronouns (she, her, him, his, their, etc.) or other mentions to people, places, or things to which they may refer. Do not ask questions that can be answered correctly without understanding the paragraph or having multiple answers. Avoid questions that do not link phrases referring to the same entity. For each of your questions, the answer should be one or more phrases in the paragraph, and it should be unambiguous.
PROBLEM: Passage: Princess Anne plans to run away with Freddie Granton, the commoner secretary of her father, King Eric VIII, once her domineering mother, Queen Martha, has left for a vacation in America. Anne is therefore aghast when the Marquis of Birten brings news that he has negotiated her political marriage to Prince William of Grec, a man she has never even met. Dismissing Anne's vehement protests, the Queen is delighted, a feeling not shared by Anne's loving but ineffectual father.
Meanwhile, the Premier and General Northrup warn that a revolution is brewing. He wishes to execute large numbers of political prisoners, but cannot without the King's signature. The Queen wholeheartedly approves of these stern measures. The King promises to attend to it, but after Northrup and the Queen leave, he orders his secretary to misplace the death warrants. Led by Laker, the rebels rise up after Northrup gets Parliament to grant him dictatorial powers. Anne seizes the opportunity to try to flee with Granton, with her father's approval. However, when she believes that the King is in real danger, she refuses to leave him.
Doctor Fellman, a moderate rebel leader, comes to see the King to demand his abdication, but agrees to stop the fighting in favor of negotiation. Then Northrup insists he is in charge now and laughs in derision when the King claims the people are stronger than Northrup's army and navy. Next to arrive is Prince William. Despite his admission that he dislikes Anne, he is prepared to do his duty and go through with the wedding. Then Fellman and Laker show up. The King surprises Northrup by dismissing him from his service and putting Fellman in charge, ordering him to set up general elections as soon as possible.

SOLUTION: What is the title of the person who is to be married to Prince William of Grec?

PROBLEM: Passage: Sir John Barbirolli, CH (2 December 1899 – 29 July 1970), né Giovanni Battista Barbirolli, was a British conductor and cellist. He is remembered above all as conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, which he helped save from dissolution in 1943 and conducted for the rest of his life. Earlier in his career he was Arturo Toscanini's successor as music director of the New York Philharmonic, serving from 1936 to 1943. He was also chief conductor of the Houston Symphony from 1961 to 1967, and was a guest conductor of many other orchestras, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic, with all of which he made recordings.
Born in London of Italian and French parentage, Barbirolli grew up in a family of professional musicians.  After starting out as a cellist, he was given the chance to conduct, from 1926 with the British National Opera Company, and then with Covent Garden's touring company. On taking up the conductorship of the Hallé he had less opportunity to work in the opera house, but in the 1950s he conducted productions of works by Verdi, Wagner, Gluck, and Puccini at Covent Garden with such success that he was invited to become the company's permanent musical director, an invitation he declined. Late in his career he made several recordings of operas, of which his 1967 set of Puccini's Madama Butterfly for EMI is probably the best known.
Both in the concert hall and on record, Barbirolli was particularly associated with the music of English composers such as Elgar, Delius and Vaughan Williams. His interpretations of other late romantic composers, such as Mahler and Sibelius, as well as of earlier classical composers, including Schubert, are also still admired.

SOLUTION: What was the name of the company that Barbirolli declined an invitation to become the music director?

PROBLEM: Passage: When an Amacore oil rig in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia proves unproductive, Captain Frank Towns and co-pilot A.J. are sent to shut down the operation and transport the crew (Amacore executive Ian, rig supervisor Kelly, Rodney, Davis, Liddle, Jeremy, Sammi, Rady, Kyle, Newman, and Dr. Gerber) out of the desert, along with a load of cargo from the site to be liquidated or redistributed to another site, causing the plane to be overweight.  However, en route to Beijing, a major dust storm disables one engine when Towns attempts a vertical climb with the overweight plane, forcing them to crash land their C-119 Flying Boxcar in an uncharted area of the Gobi Desert. Kyle falls to his death and the crash kills Dr. Gerber and Newman.  Their cargo consists of used parts and tools from the rig, the rig's crew, and Elliot, a hitchhiker.  When the dust storm ends, it becomes apparent that they are 200 miles off course with only a month's supply of water. Jeremy  (Kirk Jones) thinks about walking to get help, but Rady explains that July is the hottest month in the Gobi, and that he won't make it.

SOLUTION:
Where is the crew being taken by Captain Towns?