Exam question 1 · Alice in Wonderland, chapter VIII, part 2: The Queen's Cro…

Identify the argument advanced by the executioner in respect of the beheading of the Cheshire Cat.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, advance, respect · To what, where: argument, beheading

This is exam question 1 of lesson 16 «Alice in Wonderland, chapter VIII, part 2: The Queen's Croquet-Ground (a head without a body)» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 argument	det
3	argument	argument	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	advanced	advance	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 argument	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 executioner	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 executioner	det
7	executioner	executioner	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 advanced	obl
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 respect	case
9	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 advanced	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 beheading	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 beheading	det
12	beheading	beheading	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 respect	nmod
13	of	of	ADP	_	16 Cat	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 Cat	det
15	Cheshire	Cheshire	PROPN	Number=Sing	16 Cat	compound
16	Cat	Cat	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 beheading	nmod
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the argument		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent argument=Theme
2	advance	participle		the argument not said here	by the executioner; in respect of the beheading of the Cheshire Cat	vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP.patient V PP.attribute PP.extent PP.initial_state PP.result»: agent=Patient by executioner=Extent in respect=Attribute
3	respect			the beheading of the Cheshire Cat		nom respect «cognition transitive»: of=patient

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

That cats have no heads

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	2 cats	det
2	cats	cat	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 have	nsubj
3	have	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	5 heads	det
5	heads	head	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 have	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	have	present	that cats	no heads					vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Patient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

That a head cannot be severed in the absence of a body from which to sever it

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	3 head	det
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 head	det
3	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 severed	nsubj:pass
4	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	7 severed	aux
5	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	7 severed	advmod
6	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	7 severed	aux:pass
7	severed	sever	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 absence	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 absence	det
10	absence	absence	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 severed	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 body	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 body	det
13	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 absence	nmod
14	from	from	ADP	_	15 which	case
15	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	17 sever	nsubj
16	to	to	PART	_	17 sever	mark
17	sever	sever	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	13 body	acl:relcl
18	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	17 sever	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	not sever	can · passive		that head	the absence of a body	vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	sever	to-infinitive	a body	head		vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme
3	absent			a body		nom absence «state transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

That a body cannot be cut when a head is missing

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	7 cut	nsubj:pass
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 body	det
3	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 cut	nsubj:pass
4	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	7 cut	aux
5	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	7 cut	advmod
6	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	7 cut	aux:pass
7	cut	cut	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
8	when	when	SCONJ	_	12 missing	mark
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 head	det
10	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 missing	nsubj
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 missing	cop
12	missing	missing	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 cut	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not cut	can · passive		That					vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product
2	is	present	a head					missing property	tree rules

Option 4

That a head may be struck only while the Cat still stands on the lawn

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	3 head	det
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 head	det
3	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 struck	nsubj:pass
4	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 struck	aux
5	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 struck	aux:pass
6	struck	strike	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	only	only	ADV	_	12 stands	advmod
8	while	while	SCONJ	_	12 stands	mark
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 Cat	det
10	Cat	cat	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 stands	nsubj
11	still	still	ADV	_	12 stands	advmod
12	stands	stand	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 struck	conj
13	on	on	ADP	_	15 lawn	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 lawn	det
15	lawn	lawn	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 stands	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	strike	may · passive		that head					vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient
2	stand	present	the Cat			the lawn	still		vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on lawn=Location

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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