Exam question 2 · The Wind in the Willows, chapter III, part 3: The Wild Woo…

Ascertain the practice of river-bankers, as stated by the Rat, in respect of visits to the Wild Wood.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, state, practice, respect · To what, where: practice, river bankers, visits

This is exam question 2 of lesson 35 «The Wind in the Willows, chapter III, part 3: The Wild Wood (the Rat finds the Mole, and the snow comes)» 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 practice	det
3	practice	practice	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 bankers	case
5	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 bankers	compound
6	-	-	PUNCT	_	5 river	punct
7	bankers	banker	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 practice	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 stated	punct
9	as	as	SCONJ	_	10 stated	mark
10	stated	state	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Ascertain	parataxis
11	by	by	ADP	_	13 Rat	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 Rat	det
13	Rat	Rat	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 stated	obl
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 respect	punct
15	in	in	ADP	_	16 respect	case
16	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 stated	parataxis
17	of	of	ADP	_	18 visits	case
18	visits	visit	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 respect	nmod
19	to	to	ADP	_	22 Wood	case
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 Wood	det
21	Wild	Wild	PROPN	_	22 Wood	flat
22	Wood	Wood	PROPN	Number=Sing	18 visits	nmod
23	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the practice of river bankers		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent practice=Topic
2	state speech: other	participle			by the Rat	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
3	practice			river bankers		nom practice «act transitive»: of=patient
4	respect			visits to the Wild Wood		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

They come only in large armed groups, carrying lanterns and pistols through the whole night

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 come	nsubj
2	come	come	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	only	only	ADV	_	7 groups	advmod
4	in	in	ADP	_	7 groups	case
5	large	large	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 groups	amod
6	armed	armed	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 groups	amod
7	groups	group	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 come	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 carrying	punct
9	carrying	carry	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 come	advcl
10	lanterns	lantern	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 carrying	obj
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 pistols	cc
12	pistols	pistol	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 lanterns	conj
13	through	through	ADP	_	16 night	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 night	det
15	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 night	amod
16	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 carrying	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	come	present	They			large armed groups			vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in group=Location
2	carry	gerund	They not said here	lanterns and pistols			night		vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lantern=Theme

Option 2

They should never come at all, but if they must, they travel at least in pairs

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 come	nsubj
2	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 come	aux
3	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	4 come	advmod
4	come	come	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	at	at	ADP	_	6 all	case
6	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	4 come	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 travel	punct
8	but	but	CCONJ	_	14 travel	cc
9	if	if	SCONJ	_	11 must	mark
10	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 must	nsubj
11	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	14 travel	advcl
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 must	punct
13	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 travel	nsubj
14	travel	travel	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 come	parataxis
15	at	at	ADP	_	16 least	case
16	least	least	ADJ	Degree=Sup	14 travel	obl
17	in	in	ADP	_	18 pairs	case
18	pairs	pair	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 travel	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not come	should	They			all			vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at all=Location
2	travel	present	they			least		in pairs	vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at least=Trajectory

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

They come in couples at least, if they must come

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 come	nsubj
2	come	come	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	4 couples	case
4	couples	couple	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 come	obl
5	at	at	ADP	_	6 least	case
6	least	least	ADJ	Degree=Sup	2 come	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 come	punct
8	if	if	SCONJ	_	11 come	mark
9	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 come	nsubj
10	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	11 come	aux
11	come	come	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 come	parataxis

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	come	present	They			couples		at least	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in couple=Location
2	come a condition, not said to happen	must	couples = couple						vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

They visit daily in large noisy groups at dusk

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 visit	nsubj
2	visit	visit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	daily	daily	ADV	_	2 visit	advmod
4	in	in	ADP	_	7 groups	case
5	large	large	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 groups	amod
6	noisy	noisy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 groups	amod
7	groups	group	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 visit	obl
8	at	at	ADP	_	9 dusk	case
9	dusk	dusk	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 visit	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	visit	present	They			large noisy groups	dusk	daily property	vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V»: agent=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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