Test 10 · ★★★ · Alice in Wonderland, chapter XII, part 1: Alice's Evidence…

«It must have been that, unless it was written to nobody, which isn't usual.» What is silly about the King's reasoning?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: King · What happens: be, write, not be, reason · To what, where: that, It, nobody

This is test 10 · ★★★ of lesson 23 «Alice in Wonderland, chapter XII, part 1: Alice's Evidence (Rule Forty-two and the unsigned letter)» 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: «It must have been that, unless it was written to nobody, which isn't usual.»

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	11 written	punct
2	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 written	nsubj:pass
3	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	11 written	aux
4	have	have	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	11 written	aux
5	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	6 that	cop
6	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	4 have	obj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 written	punct
8	unless	unless	SCONJ	_	11 written	mark
9	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 written	nsubj:pass
10	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	11 written	aux:pass
11	written	write	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
12	to	to	ADP	_	13 nobody	case
13	nobody	nobody	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	11 written	obl
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 usual	punct
15	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	18 usual	nsubj
16	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	18 usual	cop
17	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	18 usual	advmod
18	usual	usual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 nobody	acl:relcl
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	11 written	punct
20	»	»	PUNCT	_	11 written	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	to whom	other	roles by
1	is a in a quote	participle	that			tree rules
2	write in a quote	must · passive	It	nobody		vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Topic to nobody=Recipient
3	not is in a quote	present			usual property	tree rules

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: What is silly about the King's reasoning?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	3 silly	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 silly	cop
3	silly	silly	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	about	about	ADP	_	8 reasoning	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 King	det
6	King	King	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 reasoning	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 King	case
8	reasoning	reasoning	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 silly	obl
9	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 silly	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present						about the King's reasoning; silly property	tree rules
2	reason		the King						nom reasoning «cognition intransitive»: poss=agent

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

He says the letter is written to somebody, so it is proof

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 says	nsubj
2	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 letter	det
4	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 written	nsubj:pass
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 written	aux:pass
6	written	write	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 says	ccomp
7	to	to	ADP	_	8 somebody	case
8	somebody	somebody	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	6 written	obl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 proof	punct
10	so	so	ADV	_	13 proof	advmod
11	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 proof	nsubj
12	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 proof	cop
13	proof	proof	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 says	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	He				vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	write	present · passive		the letter	somebody		vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Topic to somebody=Recipient
3	is	present	letter			proof property	tree rules

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

He says a letter is written to somebody, which tells us nothing new

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 says	nsubj
2	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 letter	det
4	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 written	nsubj:pass
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 written	aux:pass
6	written	write	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 says	ccomp
7	to	to	ADP	_	8 somebody	case
8	somebody	somebody	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	6 written	obl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 tells	punct
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 tells	nsubj
11	tells	tell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 somebody	acl:relcl
12	us	we	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs	11 tells	iobj
13	nothing	nothing	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	11 tells	obj
14	new	new	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 nothing	amod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	He			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	write	present · passive		a letter	somebody	vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Topic to somebody=Recipient
3	tell speech: assert	present		nothing	us	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent we=Recipient nothing=Topic

Option 3

He says a letter is always written to somebody, which tells us nothing new about the Knave at all

The tree, 19 words

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 says	nsubj
2	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 letter	det
4	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 written	nsubj:pass
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 written	aux:pass
6	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	7 written	advmod
7	written	write	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 says	ccomp
8	to	to	ADP	_	9 somebody	case
9	somebody	somebody	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	7 written	obl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 tells	punct
11	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 tells	nsubj
12	tells	tell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 somebody	acl:relcl
13	us	we	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs	12 tells	iobj
14	nothing	nothing	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	12 tells	obj
15	new	new	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 nothing	amod
16	about	about	ADP	_	18 Knave	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 Knave	det
18	Knave	knave	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 new	obl
19	at	at	ADP	_	20 all	case
20	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	12 tells	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	He					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	write	present · passive		a letter	somebody		always property	vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Topic to somebody=Recipient
3	tell speech: assert	present		nothing	us	all		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent we=Recipient nothing=Topic

Option 4

He says a letter is written to somebody, which tells us nothing new and is said as if it were a clever clue

The tree, 23 words

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 says	nsubj
2	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 letter	det
4	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 written	nsubj:pass
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 written	aux:pass
6	written	write	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 says	ccomp
7	to	to	ADP	_	8 somebody	case
8	somebody	somebody	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	6 written	obl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 tells	punct
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 tells	nsubj
11	tells	tell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 somebody	acl:relcl
12	us	we	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs	11 tells	iobj
13	nothing	nothing	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	11 tells	obj
14	new	new	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 nothing	amod
15	and	and	CCONJ	_	17 said	cc
16	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	17 said	aux:pass
17	said	say	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 tells	conj
18	as	as	ADP	ExtPos=ADP	24 clue	case
19	if	if	SCONJ	_	18 as	fixed
20	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	24 clue	nsubj
21	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	24 clue	cop
22	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	24 clue	det
23	clever	clever	ADJ	Degree=Pos	24 clue	amod
24	clue	clue	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 said	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	He				vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	write	present · passive		a letter	somebody		vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Topic to somebody=Recipient
3	tell speech: assert	present		nothing	us		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent we=Recipient nothing=Topic
4	say speech: assert	present · passive					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»
5	is	past	letter			as a clever clue	tree rules

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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