Exam question 3 · The Wind in the Willows, chapter V, part 4: Dulce Domum (t…

Ascertain the reason for the field-mouse's failure to recite from the play.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, field mouse · What happens: ascertain, recite, fail · To what, where: reason, play

This is exam question 3 of lesson 44 «The Wind in the Willows, chapter V, part 4: Dulce Domum (the carol, a magic supper, and a home to come back to)» 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 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	10 failure	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 mouse	det
6	field	field	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 mouse	compound
7	-	-	PUNCT	_	6 field	punct
8	mouse	mouse	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 failure	nmod:poss
9	's	's	PART	_	8 mouse	case
10	failure	failure	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 reason	nmod
11	to	to	PART	_	12 recite	mark
12	recite	recite	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 failure	acl
13	from	from	ADP	_	15 play	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 play	det
15	play	play	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 recite	obl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason		for the field mouse's failure	vn ensure-99 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Precondition reason=Theme for failure=Beneficiary
2	recite	to-infinitive	you not said here		the play		vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	fail		the field mouse				nom failure «act intransitive»: poss=agent

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 · ✓ the right answer

Stage-fright

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Stage	stage	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 fright	compound
2	-	-	PUNCT	_	1 Stage	punct
3	fright	fright	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

He had learned the wrong play and could not remember the first word of it

The tree, 15 words

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 learned	nsubj
2	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 learned	aux
3	learned	learn	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 play	det
5	wrong	wrong	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 play	amod
6	play	play	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 learned	obj
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 remember	cc
8	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	10 remember	aux
9	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	10 remember	advmod
10	remember	remember	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 learned	conj
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 word	det
12	first	first	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	13 word	amod
13	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 remember	obj
14	of	of	ADP	_	15 it	case
15	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 word	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	learn	past · perfect	He	the wrong play	vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent play=Topic
2	not remember	could	He not said here	the first word of word	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent word=Theme
3	word			word	nom word «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

He was too busy stuffing his mouth with cake to speak when the Rat called on him

The tree, 17 words

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	4 busy	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 busy	cop
3	too	too	ADV	_	4 busy	advmod
4	busy	busy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	stuffing	stuff	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 busy	advcl
6	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 mouth	nmod:poss
7	mouth	mouth	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 stuffing	obj
8	with	with	ADP	_	9 cake	case
9	cake	cake	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 stuffing	obl
10	to	to	PART	_	11 speak	mark
11	speak	speak	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 stuffing	advcl
12	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	15 called	advmod
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 Rat	det
14	Rat	Rat	PROPN	Number=Sing	15 called	nsubj
15	called	call	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	11 speak	advcl
16	on	on	ADP	_	17 him	case
17	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 called	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	past	He		busy property	tree rules
2	stuff	gerund	He not said here	his mouth	with cake	vn spray-9.7-2 «NP V NP.destination PP.theme»: agent=Agent mouth=Destination with cake=Theme
3	speak speech: other	to-infinitive	He not said here			vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent
4	call	past	the Rat		on him = he	vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4

A sore throat

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 throat	det
2	sore	sore	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 throat	amod
3	throat	throat	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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/44-willows-ch5-part4-the-carol-and-a-happy-homecoming/e3/