Exam question 2 · Alice in Wonderland, chapter III, part 1: The driest thing…

Ascertain the reason for which the protagonist's argument with the Lory could not be concluded.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, protagonist · What happens: ascertain, not conclude, argue · To what, where: reason, argument

This is exam question 2 of lesson 5 «Alice in Wonderland, chapter III, part 1: The driest thing and the Caucus-race» 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	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	16 concluded	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 protagonist	det
7	protagonist	protagonist	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 argument	nmod:poss
8	's	's	PART	_	7 protagonist	case
9	argument	argument	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 concluded	nsubj:outer
10	with	with	ADP	_	12 Lory	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 Lory	det
12	Lory	Lory	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 argument	nmod
13	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	16 concluded	aux
14	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	16 concluded	advmod
15	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	16 concluded	aux:pass
16	concluded	conclude	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 reason	acl:relcl
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	not conclude	could · passive		the protagonist's argument with the Lory	for the reason	vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
3	argue		the protagonist		with the Lory	nom argument «communication transitive»: poss=agent with=obl

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 Lory had escaped the argument by flying off to the tall tree with the Dodo

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Lory	det
2	Lory	Lory	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 escaped	nsubj
3	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 escaped	aux
4	escaped	escape	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 argument	det
6	argument	argument	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 escaped	obj
7	by	by	SCONJ	_	8 flying	mark
8	flying	fly	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 escaped	advcl
9	off	off	ADP	_	8 flying	compound:prt
10	to	to	ADP	_	13 tree	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 tree	det
12	tall	tall	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 tree	amod
13	tree	tree	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 flying	obl
14	with	with	ADP	_	16 Dodo	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 Dodo	det
16	Dodo	Dodo	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 flying	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	escape	past · perfect	the Lory	the argument					vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme argument=Initial_Location
2	fly off	gerund	the Lory not said here					to the tall tree result; with the Dodo	vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to tree=Result

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

Alice refused to say her own age

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Alice	Alice	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 refused	nsubj
2	refused	refuse	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 say	mark
4	say	say	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 refused	xcomp
5	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 age	nmod:poss
6	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 age	amod
7	age	age	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 say	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	refuse	past	Alice						vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	not say speech: assert	to-infinitive	Alice not said here	Alice's own age					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent age=Topic

Option 3

Alice could not prove her point, since the Lory was old and ignored every question

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Alice	Alice	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 prove	nsubj
2	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 prove	aux
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 prove	advmod
4	prove	prove	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 point	nmod:poss
6	point	point	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 prove	obj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 old	punct
8	since	since	SCONJ	_	12 old	mark
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 Lory	det
10	Lory	Lory	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 old	nsubj
11	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	12 old	cop
12	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 prove	parataxis
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 ignored	cc
14	ignored	ignore	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 old	conj
15	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	16 question	det
16	question	question	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 ignored	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	not prove	could	Alice	Alice's point		vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent point=Theme
2	is	past	the Lory		old property	tree rules
3	ignore	participle	the Lory not said here	every question		vn neglect-75.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent question=Theme
4	point		Alice			nom point «cognition transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The Lory declined to disclose its age

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Lory	det
2	Lory	Lory	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 declined	nsubj
3	declined	decline	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 disclose	mark
5	disclose	disclose	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 declined	xcomp
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 age	nmod:poss
7	age	age	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 disclose	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	decline	past	the Lory						vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	not disclose	to-infinitive	the Lory not said here	Lory's age					vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot age=Topic

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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