Exam question 1 · Alice in Wonderland, chapter IX, part 2: The Mock Turtle's…

Identify the reason assigned by the Mock Turtle for the designation «Tortoise» as applied to his former master.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, assign, apply · To what, where: reason

This is exam question 1 of lesson 18 «Alice in Wonderland, chapter IX, part 2: The Mock Turtle's Story (school under the sea)» 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 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	assigned	assign	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 reason	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	8 Turtle	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Turtle	det
7	Mock	Mock	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 Turtle	compound
8	Turtle	Turtle	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 assigned	obl
9	for	for	ADP	_	11 designation	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 designation	det
11	designation	designation	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 assigned	obl
12	«	«	PUNCT	_	13 Tortoise	punct
13	Tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 designation	appos
14	»	»	PUNCT	_	13 Tortoise	punct
15	as	as	SCONJ	_	16 applied	mark
16	applied	apply	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Identify	advcl
17	to	to	ADP	_	20 master	case
18	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	20 master	nmod:poss
19	former	former	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 master	amod
20	master	master	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 applied	obl
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the reason		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	assign	participle		the reason not said here	by the Mock Turtle; for the designation goal	vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent for designation=Goal
3	apply	participle	you not said here		to his former master	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=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

He wore a shell

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 wore	nsubj
2	wore	wear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 shell	det
4	shell	shell	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 wore	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	wear	past	He	a shell					vn wipe_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent shell=Source

Option 2

That his name was a pun on taught, and that he sang to them on the rock each evening after school

The tree, 21 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	3 name	det
2	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 name	nmod:poss
3	name	name	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 pun	nsubj
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 pun	cop
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 pun	det
6	pun	pun	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	on	on	SCONJ	_	8 taught	mark
8	taught	teach	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 pun	acl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 sang	punct
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 sang	cc
11	that	that	SCONJ	_	13 sang	mark
12	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 sang	nsubj
13	sang	sing	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 pun	conj
14	to	to	ADP	_	15 them	case
15	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 sang	obl
16	on	on	ADP	_	18 rock	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 rock	det
18	rock	rock	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 sang	obl
19	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	20 evening	det
20	evening	evening	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 sang	obl:unmarked
21	after	after	ADP	_	22 school	case
22	school	school	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 sang	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	roles by
1	is a	past	his name	a pun				tree rules
2	teach speech: other	participle		a pun not said here				vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	sing speech: express	past	he		them = they	the rock	after school; evening	vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on rock=Location
4	name		his = he					nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

That he taught them, since he was an old Turtle who came to school in the sea every single day

The tree, 20 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	3 taught	nsubj
2	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 taught	nsubj
3	taught	teach	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 taught	obj
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 Turtle	punct
6	since	since	SCONJ	_	11 Turtle	mark
7	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 Turtle	nsubj
8	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	11 Turtle	cop
9	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 Turtle	det
10	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 Turtle	amod
11	Turtle	turtle	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 taught	obl:unmarked
12	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 came	nsubj
13	came	come	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	11 Turtle	acl:relcl
14	to	to	ADP	_	15 school	case
15	school	school	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 came	obl
16	in	in	ADP	_	18 sea	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 sea	det
18	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 came	obl
19	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	21 day	det
20	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	21 day	amod
21	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 came	obl:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	teach speech: other	past	That		them = they				vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient
2	is a	past	he	a old Turtle					tree rules
3	come	past	a old Turtle			the sea	day	to school	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to school=Initial_Location

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

That he taught them

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	3 taught	nsubj
2	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 taught	nsubj
3	taught	teach	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 taught	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	teach speech: other	past	That		them = they				vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient

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/18-alice-the-mock-turtles-story-2/e1/