Test 4 · ★★★ · The Wind in the Willows, chapter IV, part 1: Mr. Badger (t…

The writer says it would «take too long to explain why» table manners matter. What is he doing?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: writer, it, table manners · What happens: say, take, explain, matter, do · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 4 · ★★★ of lesson 37 «The Wind in the Willows, chapter IV, part 1: Mr. Badger (the door in the snow and the fire-lit kitchen)» 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 writer says it would «take too long to explain why» table manners matter.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 writer	det
2	writer	writer	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 says	nsubj
3	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 take	nsubj
5	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	7 take	aux
6	«	«	PUNCT	_	7 take	punct
7	take	take	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 says	ccomp
8	too	too	ADV	_	9 long	advmod
9	long	long	ADV	Degree=Pos	7 take	advmod
10	to	to	PART	_	11 explain	mark
11	explain	explain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	16 matter	advcl
12	why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	11 explain	advmod
13	»	»	PUNCT	_	11 explain	punct
14	table	table	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 manners	compound
15	manners	manners	NOUN	Number=Ptan	16 matter	nsubj
16	matter	matter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 take	parataxis
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 says	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	the writer		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	take in a quote	would	it	long property	vn require-103 «NP V that S»: agent=Theme clause=Precondition
3	explain speech: assert in a quote	to-infinitive	table manners not said here		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
4	matter	present	table manners		vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus

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 he doing?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	4 doing	obj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 doing	aux
3	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 doing	nsubj
4	doing	do	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 doing	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	do	present · progressive	writer						vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality

The options

Option 1

Avoiding the question with a weak excuse

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Avoiding	avoid	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 question	det
3	question	question	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Avoiding	obj
4	with	with	ADP	_	7 excuse	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 excuse	det
6	weak	weak	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 excuse	amod
7	excuse	excuse	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Avoiding	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	avoid	gerund		the question				with a weak excuse	vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent question=Location

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Making a little joke, like a grown-up who can't quite explain

The tree, 13 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Making	make	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 joke	det
3	little	little	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 joke	amod
4	joke	joke	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Making	obj
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 grown	punct
6	like	like	ADP	_	8 grown	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 grown	det
8	grown	grow	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Making	conj
9	-	-	PUNCT	_	10 up	punct
10	up	up	ADP	_	8 grown	compound:prt
11	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	15 explain	nsubj
12	ca	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	15 explain	aux
13	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	15 explain	advmod
14	quite	quite	ADV	_	15 explain	advmod
15	explain	explain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 grown	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	roles by
1	make	gerund	a little joke	vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset joke=Product
2	grow up	participle		vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	not explain speech: assert	can		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Making a little joke, since he would be a long time explaining, like a grown-up who cannot say why to a child

The tree, 24 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Making	make	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 joke	det
3	little	little	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 joke	amod
4	joke	joke	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Making	obj
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 time	punct
6	since	since	SCONJ	_	12 time	mark
7	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 time	nsubj
8	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	12 time	aux
9	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	12 time	cop
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 time	det
11	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 time	amod
12	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Making	obl
13	explaining	explain	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	12 time	acl
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	23 say	punct
15	like	like	SCONJ	_	23 say	mark
16	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 grown	det
17	grown	grow	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	23 say	advcl
18	-	-	PUNCT	_	19 up	punct
19	up	up	ADP	_	17 grown	compound:prt
20	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	23 say	nsubj
21	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	23 say	aux
22	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	23 say	advmod
23	say	say	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	13 explaining	conj
24	why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	23 say	advmod
25	to	to	ADP	_	27 child	case
26	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	27 child	det
27	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	23 say	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	roles by
1	make	gerund		a little joke		vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset joke=Product
2	is a	would	he	a long time		tree rules
3	explain speech: assert	gerund	a long time not said here			vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
4	grow up	participle				vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
5	not say speech: assert	can			a child	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to child=Recipient

Option 4

Talking down to the reader in a stern way

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Talking	talk	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	down	down	ADV	_	1 Talking	advmod
3	to	to	ADP	_	5 reader	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 reader	det
5	reader	reader	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Talking	obl
6	in	in	ADP	_	9 way	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 way	det
8	stern	stern	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 way	amod
9	way	way	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Talking	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	talk down	gerund				a stern way		to the reader; down property	vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to reader=Co-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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/37-willows-ch4-part1-mr-badger/t4/