Test 9 · ★★ · The Wind in the Willows, chapter I, part 4: The River Bank…

The Rat's stories have «steamers that flung hard bottles—at least bottles were certainly flung, and from steamers, so presumably by them». What's the joke?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: stories, steamers, joke · What happens: have, fling, be · To what, where: steamers, hard bottles, least bottles · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 9 · ★★ of lesson 28 «The Wind in the Willows, chapter I, part 4: The River Bank (the Mole grabs the oars, the boat goes over, and a friendship begins)» 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 Rat's stories have «steamers that flung hard bottles—at least bottles were certainly flung, and from steamers, so presumably by them».

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Rat	det
2	Rat	Rat	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 stories	nmod:poss
3	's	's	PART	_	2 Rat	case
4	stories	story	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 have	nsubj
5	have	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	«	«	PUNCT	_	7 steamers	punct
7	steamers	steamer	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 have	obj
8	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 flung	nsubj
9	flung	fling	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 steamers	acl:relcl
10	hard	hard	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 bottles	amod
11	bottles	bottle	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 flung	obj
12	—	-	PUNCT	_	18 flung	punct
13	at	at	ADP	_	14 least	case
14	least	least	ADJ	Degree=Sup	15 bottles	amod
15	bottles	bottle	NOUN	Number=Plur	18 flung	nsubj:pass
16	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	18 flung	aux:pass
17	certainly	certainly	ADV	_	18 flung	advmod
18	flung	fling	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 have	parataxis
19	,	,	PUNCT	_	22 steamers	punct
20	and	and	CCONJ	_	22 steamers	cc
21	from	from	ADP	_	22 steamers	case
22	steamers	steamer	NOUN	Number=Plur	18 flung	conj
23	,	,	PUNCT	_	25 presumably	punct
24	so	so	ADV	_	25 presumably	advmod
25	presumably	presumably	ADV	_	18 flung	advmod
26	by	by	ADP	_	27 them	case
27	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	18 flung	obl
28	»	»	PUNCT	_	18 flung	punct
29	.	.	PUNCT	_	5 have	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	have	present	the Rat's stories	steamers		tree rules
2	fling in a quote	past	steamers	hard bottles		vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bottle=Theme
3	fling in a quote	past · passive	steamers = steamer	least bottles	certainly, presumably property	vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=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.

Sentence 2: What's the joke?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	root	root
2	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 What	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 joke	det
4	joke	joke	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 What	nsubj
5	?	?	PUNCT	_	1 What	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	the joke						tree rules

The options

Option 1

Bottles were thrown by the Rat's own friends

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Bottles	bottle	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 thrown	nsubj:pass
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 thrown	aux:pass
3	thrown	throw	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	9 friends	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Rat	det
6	Rat	Rat	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 friends	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 Rat	case
8	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 friends	amod
9	friends	friend	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 thrown	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	throw	past · passive	the Rat's own friends	Bottles					vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

People on the steamers threw them, not the boats, which is why bottles were flung about the river in every story

The tree, 21 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	People	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 threw	nsubj
2	on	on	ADP	_	4 steamers	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 steamers	det
4	steamers	steamer	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 People	nmod
5	threw	throw	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 threw	obj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 boats	punct
8	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	10 boats	advmod
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 boats	det
10	boats	boat	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 threw	obl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 why	punct
12	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	14 why	nsubj
13	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 why	cop
14	why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	10 boats	acl:relcl
15	bottles	bottle	NOUN	Number=Plur	17 flung	nsubj:pass
16	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	17 flung	aux:pass
17	flung	fling	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 why	advcl:relcl
18	about	about	ADP	_	20 river	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 river	det
20	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 flung	obl
21	in	in	ADP	_	23 story	case
22	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	23 story	det
23	story	story	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 threw	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	throw	past	People on the steamers	steamers = steamer	every story	the boats obl	vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent they=Theme in story=Destination
2	is	present	the boats			why property	tree rules
3	fling	past · passive		bottles		about the river	vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: subject=Theme about river=Destination

Option 3

The bottles were flung by the steamers' captains, who were angry at the Rat's noisy singing on the river all day

The tree, 23 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 bottles	det
2	bottles	bottle	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 flung	nsubj:pass
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 flung	aux:pass
4	flung	fling	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	9 captains	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 steamers	det
7	steamers	steamer	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 captains	nmod:poss
8	'	's	PART	_	7 steamers	case
9	captains	captain	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 flung	obl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 angry	punct
11	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 angry	nsubj
12	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	13 angry	cop
13	angry	angry	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 captains	conj
14	at	at	ADP	_	24 day	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 Rat	det
16	Rat	Rat	PROPN	Number=Sing	24 day	nmod:poss
17	's	's	PART	_	16 Rat	case
18	noisy	noisy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	24 day	amod
19	singing	sing	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	24 day	csubj
20	on	on	ADP	_	22 river	case
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 river	det
22	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 singing	obl
23	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	24 day	det
24	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 angry	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fling	past · passive	the steamers's captains	the bottles				vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme
2	is	past	the steamers's captains			day	angry property	tree rules
3	sing speech: express	gerund			the river			vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on river=Location

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

People on the steamers threw them, not the boats

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	People	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 threw	nsubj
2	on	on	ADP	_	4 steamers	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 steamers	det
4	steamers	steamer	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 People	nmod
5	threw	throw	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 threw	obj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 boats	punct
8	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	10 boats	advmod
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 boats	det
10	boats	boat	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 threw	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	throw	past	People on the steamers	steamers = steamer				the boats obl	vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=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.

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