Exam question 3 · Alice in Wonderland, chapter XI, part 1: Who Stole the Tar…

Ascertain the reason for which the Hatter possessed no hat of his own.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, Hatter · What happens: ascertain, possess · To what, where: reason, hat

This is exam question 3 of lesson 21 «Alice in Wonderland, chapter XI, part 1: Who Stole the Tarts? (the court and the first witness)» 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 possessed	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Hatter	det
7	Hatter	Hatter	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 possessed	nsubj
8	possessed	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 reason	parataxis
9	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	10 hat	det
10	hat	hat	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 possessed	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 own	case
12	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 own	nmod:poss
13	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 hat	nmod
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	possess	past	the Hatter	no hat of Hatter's own				for the reason	vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot hat=Theme

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 had been robbed of all his hats

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	4 robbed	nsubj:pass
2	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 robbed	aux
3	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	4 robbed	aux:pass
4	robbed	rob	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 hats	case
6	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	8 hats	det:predet
7	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 hats	nmod:poss
8	hats	hat	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 robbed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rob	past · perfect · passive		He				of his hats	vn rob-10.6.4 «NP V NP PP.source»: subject=Theme of hat=Source

Option 2

He had lost them all

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	3 lost	nsubj
2	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 lost	aux
3	lost	lose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
4	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 lost	obj
5	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	3 lost	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lose	past · perfect	He	them = they					tree rules

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

He kept them for his wife

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 kept	nsubj
2	kept	keep	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 kept	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	6 wife	case
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 wife	nmod:poss
6	wife	wife	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 kept	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	keep	past	He	them = they				for his wife	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

He kept them for the purpose of sale, being a hatter

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 kept	nsubj
2	kept	keep	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 kept	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	6 purpose	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 purpose	det
6	purpose	purpose	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 kept	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 sale	case
8	sale	sale	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 purpose	nmod
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 hatter	punct
10	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	12 hatter	cop
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 hatter	det
12	hatter	hatter	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 kept	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	keep	past	He	them = they	for the purpose of sale	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme
2	is a	gerund		a hatter		tree rules
3	purpose		sale			nom purpose «cognition intransitive»: of=agent

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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