Exam question 3 · Alice in Wonderland, chapter X, part 1: The Lobster Quadri…

Ascertain the cause assigned by the Gryphon for the whiting's tail being found in its mouth.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, assign, find · To what, where: cause, tail, mouth

This is exam question 3 of lesson 19 «Alice in Wonderland, chapter X, part 1: The Lobster Quadrille (a dance, a whiting and a porpoise)» 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 cause	det
3	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	assigned	assign	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 cause	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 Gryphon	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Gryphon	det
7	Gryphon	Gryphon	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 assigned	obl
8	for	for	ADP	_	12 tail	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 whiting	det
10	whiting	whiting	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 tail	nmod:poss
11	's	's	PART	_	10 whiting	case
12	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 assigned	obl
13	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	14 found	aux:pass
14	found	find	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 tail	acl
15	in	in	ADP	_	17 mouth	case
16	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	17 mouth	nmod:poss
17	mouth	mouth	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 found	obl
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the cause			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cause=Topic
2	assign	participle		the cause not said here		by the Gryphon; for the whiting's tail goal	vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent for tail=Goal
3	find	gerund · passive		the whiting's tail not said here	tail's mouth		vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»

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

Its being thrown out to sea

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 thrown	nsubj:pass
2	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 thrown	aux:pass
3	thrown	throw	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	out	out	ADP	_	3 thrown	compound:prt
5	to	to	ADP	_	6 sea	case
6	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 thrown	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	throw out	gerund · passive		Its = it		sea			vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: subject=Theme to sea=Destination

Option 2

Its having been eaten and then thrown away

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 eaten	nmod:poss
2	having	have	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 eaten	aux
3	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	4 eaten	aux:pass
4	eaten	eat	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 thrown	cc
6	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	7 thrown	advmod
7	thrown	throw	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 eaten	conj
8	away	away	ADV	_	7 thrown	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	eat	gerund · perfect · passive							vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»
2	throw away	participle					then	away property	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Its having been thrown out to sea with the lobsters and having fallen a long way

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 thrown	nmod:poss
2	having	have	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 thrown	aux
3	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	4 thrown	aux:pass
4	thrown	throw	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	out	out	ADP	_	4 thrown	compound:prt
6	to	to	ADP	_	7 sea	case
7	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 thrown	obl
8	with	with	ADP	_	10 lobsters	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 lobsters	det
10	lobsters	lobster	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 thrown	obl
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 fallen	cc
12	having	have	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	13 fallen	aux
13	fallen	fall	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	4 thrown	conj
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 way	det
15	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 way	amod
16	way	way	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 fallen	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	throw out	gerund · perfect · passive				sea		with the lobsters	vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: to sea=Destination
2	fall	gerund · perfect		a long way					vn become-109.1-1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient way=Result

Option 4

Its being chased by a lobster and falling down

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 chased	nsubj:pass
2	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 chased	aux:pass
3	chased	chase	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 lobster	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 lobster	det
6	lobster	lobster	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 chased	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 falling	cc
8	falling	fall	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 chased	conj
9	down	down	ADV	_	8 falling	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	chase	gerund · passive	a lobster	Its = it					vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme
2	fall down	gerund	a lobster not said here					down property	vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=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/19-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-1/e3/