Test 9 · ★★ · Alice in Wonderland, chapter XI, part 1: Who Stole the Tar…

The King says «don't be nervous, or I'll have you executed». Why does this not help?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: King, you, this · What happens: say, not be, have, execute, not help · To what, where: you · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 9 · ★★ 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. 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: The King says «don't be nervous, or I'll have you executed».

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 King	det
2	King	King	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 says	nsubj
3	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	«	«	PUNCT	_	8 nervous	punct
5	do	do	AUX	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	8 nervous	aux
6	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	8 nervous	advmod
7	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	8 nervous	cop
8	nervous	nervous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 says	ccomp
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 have	punct
10	or	or	CCONJ	_	13 have	cc
11	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	13 have	nsubj
12	'll	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	13 have	aux
13	have	have	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 nervous	conj
14	you	you	PRON	Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs	13 have	obj
15	executed	execute	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 have	xcomp
16	»	»	PUNCT	_	8 nervous	punct
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 says	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	the King			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	not is in a quote	infinitive · do-support			nervous property	tree rules
3	have in a quote	future	the King = king	you		tree rules
4	execute in a quote	participle	you not said here			vn murder-42.1 «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.

Sentence 2: Why does this not help?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	5 help	advmod
2	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 help	aux
3	this	this	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	5 help	nsubj
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 help	advmod
5	help	help	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 help	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not help	present · do-support	this						vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent

The options

Option 1

A threat makes anyone more nervous, not less, so the King should try a kinder word to the Hatter

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 threat	det
2	threat	threat	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 makes	nsubj
3	makes	make	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	anyone	anyone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	3 makes	obj
5	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	6 nervous	advmod
6	nervous	nervous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 makes	xcomp
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 less	punct
8	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	9 less	advmod
9	less	less	ADV	Degree=Cmp	6 nervous	obl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 try	punct
11	so	so	ADV	_	15 try	advmod
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 King	det
13	King	King	PROPN	Number=Sing	15 try	nsubj
14	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	15 try	aux
15	try	try	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 makes	conj
16	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	18 word	det
17	kinder	kind	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	18 word	amod
18	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 try	obj
19	to	to	ADP	_	21 Hatter	case
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 Hatter	det
21	Hatter	Hatter	PROPN	Number=Sing	15 try	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	make	present	a threat	anyone				nervous property	vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset anyone=Product
2	try	should	the King	a kinder word				to the Hatter	vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Eventuality

Option 2

The Hatter already knows the King is cross

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Hatter	det
2	Hatter	Hatter	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 knows	nsubj
3	already	already	ADV	_	4 knows	advmod
4	knows	know	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 King	det
6	King	King	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 cross	nsubj
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 cross	cop
8	cross	cross	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 knows	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	know	present	the Hatter						vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer
2	is	present	the King					cross property	tree rules

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

A threat makes anyone more nervous, not less, and the Hatter then bites his teacup in fright

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 threat	det
2	threat	threat	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 makes	nsubj
3	makes	make	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	anyone	anyone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	3 makes	obj
5	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	6 nervous	advmod
6	nervous	nervous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 makes	xcomp
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 less	punct
8	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	9 less	advmod
9	less	less	ADV	Degree=Cmp	3 makes	advmod
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 bites	punct
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 bites	cc
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 Hatter	det
13	Hatter	Hatter	PROPN	Number=Sing	15 bites	nsubj
14	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	15 bites	advmod
15	bites	bite	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 makes	conj
16	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	17 teacup	nmod:poss
17	teacup	teacup	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 bites	obj
18	in	in	ADP	_	19 fright	case
19	fright	fright	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 bites	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	make	present	a threat	anyone				less, nervous property	vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset anyone=Product
2	bite	present	the Hatter	Hatter's teacup		fright	then		vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent teacup=Patient in fright=Location

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

A threat makes anyone more nervous, not less

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 threat	det
2	threat	threat	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 makes	nsubj
3	makes	make	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	anyone	anyone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	3 makes	obj
5	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	6 nervous	advmod
6	nervous	nervous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 makes	xcomp
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 makes	punct
8	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	9 less	advmod
9	less	less	ADV	Degree=Cmp	3 makes	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	make	present	a threat	anyone				less, nervous property	vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset anyone=Product

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/21-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-1/t9/