Exam question 2 · The Wind in the Willows, chapter III, part 4: The Wild Woo…

Ascertain the interpretation placed by the Mole upon the discovery of the door-scraper.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, place, discover · To what, where: interpretation, discovery, door scraper

This is exam question 2 of lesson 36 «The Wind in the Willows, chapter III, part 4: The Wild Wood (the door-scraper, the door-mat, and a green door)» 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 interpretation	det
3	interpretation	interpretation	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	placed	place	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 interpretation	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 Mole	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Mole	det
7	Mole	mole	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 placed	obl
8	upon	upon	ADP	_	10 discovery	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 discovery	det
10	discovery	discovery	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 placed	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	15 scraper	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 scraper	det
13	door	door	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 scraper	compound
14	-	-	PUNCT	_	13 door	punct
15	scraper	scraper	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 discovery	nmod
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the interpretation			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent interpretation=Topic
2	place	participle		the interpretation not said here	the discovery of the door scraper	by the Mole	vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent upon discovery=Destination
3	discover			the door scraper			nom discovery «act 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

That someone was scraping the path clean

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	2 someone	det
2	someone	someone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	4 scraping	nsubj
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 scraping	aux
4	scraping	scrape	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 path	det
6	path	path	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 scraping	obj
7	clean	clean	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 scraping	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	scrape	past · progressive	someone	the path				clean property	vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent path=Patient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

That a careless person had left it lying about

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	6 left	nsubj:pass
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 person	det
3	careless	careless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 person	amod
4	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 left	nsubj
5	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 left	aux
6	left	leave	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 left	obj
8	lying	lie	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 left	advcl
9	about	about	ADV	_	8 lying	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	leave	past · perfect · passive		That					vn sustain-55.6-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Theme it=Attribute
2	lie	gerund						about property	vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

That a neighbour had left it out by mistake

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	3 neighbour	det
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 neighbour	det
3	neighbour	neighbour	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 left	nsubj
4	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 left	aux
5	left	leave	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
6	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 left	obj
7	out	out	ADP	_	5 left	compound:prt
8	by	by	ADP	_	9 mistake	case
9	mistake	mistake	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 left	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	leave out	past · perfect	that neighbour	it				by mistake	vn neglect-75.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme

Option 4

That a careless person had left it lying about after cleaning the boots of a visitor

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	2 a	reparandum
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 person	det
3	careless	careless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 person	amod
4	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 left	nsubj
5	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 left	aux
6	left	leave	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
7	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 left	obj
8	lying	lie	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 left	advcl
9	about	about	ADV	_	8 lying	advmod
10	after	after	SCONJ	_	11 cleaning	mark
11	cleaning	clean	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 lying	advcl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 boots	det
13	boots	boot	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 cleaning	obj
14	of	of	ADP	_	16 visitor	case
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 visitor	det
16	visitor	visitor	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 boots	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	leave	past · perfect	a careless person	it		vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme
2	lie	gerund	a careless person not said here		about property	vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	clean	gerund	a careless person not said here	the boots of a visitor		vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent boot=Patient

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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