Exam question 2 · The Wind in the Willows, chapter II, part 2: The Open Road…

Ascertain the position initially adopted by the Rat in respect of the proposed expedition.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, adopt, propose, respect · To what, where: position, respect, proposed expedition

This is exam question 2 of lesson 30 «The Wind in the Willows, chapter II, part 2: The Open Road (Toad's canary-coloured caravan)» 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 position	det
3	position	position	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	initially	initially	ADV	_	5 adopted	advmod
5	adopted	adopt	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 position	acl
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 Rat	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Rat	det
8	Rat	Rat	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 adopted	obl
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 respect	case
10	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 adopted	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 expedition	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 expedition	det
13	proposed	propose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 expedition	amod
14	expedition	expedition	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 respect	nmod
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the position			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent position=Topic
2	adopt	participle		the position not said here	respect of the proposed expedition	by the Rat; initially property	vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	propose	participle					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
4	respect			the proposed expedition			nom respect «cognition transitive»: of=patient

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 · ← Mova's choice

He declined, flatly, and said he would never ride in a caravan

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 declined	nsubj
2	declined	decline	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 flatly	punct
4	flatly	flatly	ADV	_	2 declined	advmod
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 said	punct
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 said	cc
7	said	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 declined	conj
8	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 ride	nsubj
9	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	11 ride	aux
10	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	11 ride	advmod
11	ride	ride	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 said	ccomp
12	in	in	ADP	_	14 caravan	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 caravan	det
14	caravan	caravan	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 ride	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	other	roles by
1	decline	past	He		flatly property	vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute
2	say speech: assert	past	He not said here			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	not ride	would	he	a caravan		vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

He first agreed, then declined flatly once he heard the price

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 agreed	nsubj
2	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	3 agreed	advmod
3	agreed	agree	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 declined	punct
5	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	6 declined	advmod
6	declined	decline	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 agreed	conj
7	flatly	flatly	ADV	_	6 declined	advmod
8	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	10 heard	advmod
9	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 heard	nsubj
10	heard	hear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 agreed	advcl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 price	det
12	price	price	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 heard	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	agree speech: agree	past	He			first property	vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	decline	past	He not said here		then	flatly property	vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute
3	hear	past	he	the price		once property	vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer price=Stimulus

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

He declined, flatly

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 declined	nsubj
2	declined	decline	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 declined	punct
4	flatly	flatly	ADV	_	2 declined	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	decline	past	He					flatly property	vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute

Option 4

He asked to go first

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 asked	nsubj
2	asked	ask	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 go	mark
4	go	go	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 asked	xcomp
5	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	4 go	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ask speech: ask	past	He						vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	go not said to happen	to-infinitive	He not said here					first property	vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=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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