Exam question 2 · Alice in Wonderland, chapter I, part 1: Down the Rabbit-Ho…

Ascertain the reason for which the protagonist declined to release the jar during her descent.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, protagonist · What happens: ascertain, decline, not release, descend · To what, where: reason, jar

This is exam question 2 of lesson 1 «Alice in Wonderland, chapter I, part 1: Down the Rabbit-Hole (the fall)» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 declined	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 protagonist	det
7	protagonist	protagonist	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 declined	nsubj
8	declined	decline	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 reason	acl
9	to	to	PART	_	10 release	mark
10	release	release	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 declined	xcomp
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 jar	det
12	jar	jar	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 release	obj
13	during	during	ADP	_	15 descent	case
14	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	15 descent	nmod:poss
15	descent	descent	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 release	obl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	decline	past	the protagonist			for the reason	vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
3	not release	to-infinitive	the protagonist not said here	the jar	during protagonist's descent		vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Causer jar=Source
4	descend		protagonist				nom descent «event intransitive»: poss=agent

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

Apprehension that it might cause the death of a person below

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Apprehension	apprehension	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	that	that	SCONJ	_	5 cause	mark
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 cause	nsubj
4	might	might	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 cause	aux
5	cause	cause	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	1 Apprehension	acl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 death	det
7	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 cause	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 person	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 person	det
10	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 death	nmod
11	below	below	ADV	_	10 person	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cause	might	Apprehension	the death of a person					vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition death=Patient
2	die		a person						nom death «event intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

Apprehension that it might strike and kill a person standing on the floor at the bottom of the well, which would be dreadful

The tree, 23 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Apprehension	apprehension	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	that	that	SCONJ	_	5 strike	mark
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 strike	nsubj
4	might	might	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 strike	aux
5	strike	strike	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	1 Apprehension	acl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 kill	cc
7	kill	kill	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 strike	conj
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 person	det
9	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 kill	obj
10	standing	stand	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	9 person	acl
11	on	on	ADP	_	13 floor	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 floor	det
13	floor	floor	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 standing	obl
14	at	at	ADP	_	16 bottom	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 bottom	det
16	bottom	bottom	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 standing	obl
17	of	of	ADP	_	19 well	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 well	det
19	well	well	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 bottom	nmod
20	,	,	PUNCT	_	24 dreadful	punct
21	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	24 dreadful	nsubj
22	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	24 dreadful	aux
23	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	24 dreadful	cop
24	dreadful	dreadful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 well	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	strike	might	Apprehension	Apprehension not said here			vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent apprehension=Patient
2	kill	infinitive	Apprehension not said here	a person			vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent person=Theme
3	stand	gerund	a person not said here		the floor	at the bottom of the well	vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on floor=Location
4	is	would	the well			dreadful property	tree rules

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Fear that the jar would be lost, since she intended to bring it back to the kitchen and put it safely on the shelf

The tree, 24 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Fear	fear	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 intended	nsubj:outer
2	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 lost	mark
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 jar	det
4	jar	jar	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 lost	nsubj:pass
5	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	7 lost	aux
6	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	7 lost	aux:pass
7	lost	lose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Fear	acl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 intended	punct
9	since	since	SCONJ	_	11 intended	mark
10	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 intended	nsubj
11	intended	intend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
12	to	to	PART	_	13 bring	mark
13	bring	bring	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	11 intended	xcomp
14	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 bring	obj
15	back	back	ADV	_	13 bring	advmod
16	to	to	ADP	_	18 kitchen	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 kitchen	det
18	kitchen	kitchen	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 bring	obl
19	and	and	CCONJ	_	20 put	cc
20	put	put	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	13 bring	conj
21	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	20 put	obj
22	safely	safely	ADV	_	20 put	advmod
23	on	on	ADP	_	25 shelf	case
24	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	25 shelf	det
25	shelf	shelf	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 put	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	lose	would · passive	Fear not said here	the jar			vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality
2	intend	past	Fear				vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	bring back not said to happen	to-infinitive	Fear not said here	jar	the kitchen		vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme to kitchen=Destination
4	put	infinitive	Fear not said here	jar	the shelf	safely property	vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme on shelf=Destination

Option 4

Worry that it might break and spill a sticky mess below

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Worry	worry	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	that	that	SCONJ	_	5 break	mark
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 break	nsubj
4	might	might	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 break	aux
5	break	break	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	1 Worry	acl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 spill	cc
7	spill	spill	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 break	conj
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 mess	det
9	sticky	sticky	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 mess	amod
10	mess	mess	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 spill	obj
11	below	below	ADV	_	10 mess	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	break	might	Worry	Worry not said here					vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer worry=Patient
2	spill	infinitive	Worry not said here	a sticky mess					vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location mess=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1-alice-ch1-part1-down-the-rabbit-hole/e2/