Test 2 · ★★ · Alice in Wonderland, chapter X, part 2: The Lobster Quadri…

«Explanations take such a dreadful time,» says the Gryphon. Who in the book has been asking Alice to explain herself before?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Explanations, Gryphon · What happens: take, say, ask, explain · To what, where: Alice, book · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 2 · ★★ of lesson 20 «Alice in Wonderland, chapter X, part 2: The Lobster Quadrille (poems gone wrong and Beautiful Soup)» of the books course of Mova's primary school. 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

Sentence 1: «Explanations take such a dreadful time,» says the Gryphon.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	3 take	punct
2	Explanations	explanation	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 take	nsubj
3	take	take	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 says	ccomp
4	such	such	DET	PronType=Ind	7 time	det:predet
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 time	det
6	dreadful	dreadful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 time	amod
7	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 take	obj
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 take	punct
9	»	»	PUNCT	_	10 says	punct
10	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 Gryphon	det
12	Gryphon	Gryphon	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 says	nsubj
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	10 says	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	take in a quote	present	Explanations				time		vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	say speech: assert	present	the Gryphon						vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic

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.

Sentence 2: Who in the book has been asking Alice to explain herself before?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 asking	nsubj
2	in	in	ADP	_	4 book	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 book	det
4	book	book	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 asking	obl
5	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 asking	aux
6	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	7 asking	aux
7	asking	ask	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
8	Alice	Alice	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 asking	obj
9	to	to	PART	_	10 explain	mark
10	explain	explain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 asking	xcomp
11	herself	herself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	10 explain	obj
12	before	before	ADV	_	10 explain	advmod
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 asking	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ask speech: ask	present · perfect · progressive			Alice	the book			vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent alice=Recipient clause=Topic
2	explain speech: assert not said to happen	to-infinitive		Alice				before property	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent herself=Topic

The options

Option 1

The Caterpillar on the mushroom, who kept telling her to explain herself very sharply and often

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Caterpillar	det
2	Caterpillar	Caterpillar	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 kept	nsubj
3	on	on	ADP	_	5 mushroom	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 mushroom	det
5	mushroom	mushroom	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 Caterpillar	nmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 kept	punct
7	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 kept	nsubj
8	kept	keep	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	telling	tell	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 kept	xcomp
10	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 telling	iobj
11	to	to	PART	_	12 explain	mark
12	explain	explain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 telling	advcl
13	herself	herself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	12 explain	obj
14	very	very	ADV	_	15 sharply	advmod
15	sharply	sharply	ADV	_	12 explain	advmod
16	and	and	CCONJ	_	17 often	cc
17	often	often	ADV	_	15 sharply	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	other	roles by
1	keep	past	the Caterpillar on the mushroom				tree rules
2	tell speech: assert	gerund	the Caterpillar on the mushroom not said here		Caterpillar		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent she=Recipient
3	explain speech: assert	to-infinitive	the Caterpillar on the mushroom not said here	Caterpillar		sharply property	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent herself=Topic

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

The Duchess's cook and the Mock Turtle, both of whom asked Alice many times to explain what she meant

The tree, 20 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Duchess	det
2	Duchess	Duchess	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 cook	nmod:poss
3	's	's	PART	_	2 Duchess	case
4	cook	cook	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 asked	nsubj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 Turtle	cc
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 cook	conj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 asked	punct
10	both	both	DET	PronType=Tot	13 asked	nsubj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 whom	case
12	whom	whom	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 both	nmod
13	asked	ask	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
14	Alice	Alice	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 asked	obj
15	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 times	amod
16	times	time	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 asked	obl:unmarked
17	to	to	PART	_	18 explain	mark
18	explain	explain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	13 asked	advcl
19	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	18 explain	obj
20	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	21 meant	nsubj
21	meant	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	19 what	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	to whom	when	roles by
1	ask speech: ask	past	the Duchess's cook and the Mock Turtle	Alice	time	vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent alice=Recipient
2	explain speech: assert	to-infinitive	the Duchess's cook and the Mock Turtle not said here			vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic
3	mean	past	Alice			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent

Option 3

The White Rabbit, who was late

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 Rabbit	det
2	White	white	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 Rabbit	amod
3	Rabbit	Rabbit	PROPN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 late	punct
5	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 late	nsubj
6	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 late	cop
7	late	late	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 Rabbit	parataxis

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	the White Rabbit					late property	tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The Caterpillar: «Explain yourself!»

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Caterpillar	det
2	Caterpillar	caterpillar	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 Explain	nsubj
3	:	:	PUNCT	_	5 Explain	punct
4	«	«	PUNCT	_	5 Explain	punct
5	Explain	explain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	yourself	yourself	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=2 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	5 Explain	obj
7	!	!	PUNCT	_	5 Explain	punct
8	»	»	PUNCT	_	5 Explain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	explain speech: assert in a quote	infinitive	the Caterpillar	yourself					vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent yourself=Topic

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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