Exam question 1 · Uncle Remus, The Tar-Baby, part 5: Brer Rabbit tricks Brer…

Which of the following did Brer Fox threaten to do to Brer Rabbit before throwing him into the brier-patch?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: Brer · What happens: follow, fox, threaten, do, throw · To what, where: Brer, brier patch

This is exam question 1 of lesson 569 «Uncle Remus, The Tar-Baby, part 5: Brer Rabbit tricks Brer Fox into the brier-patch» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 following	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 following	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 following	det
4	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 Fox	aux
6	Brer	Brer	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 Fox	nsubj
7	Fox	fox	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 following	ccomp
8	threaten	threaten	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 Fox	xcomp
9	to	to	PART	_	10 do	mark
10	do	do	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 threaten	xcomp
11	to	to	ADP	_	13 Rabbit	case
12	Brer	Brer	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 Rabbit	compound
13	Rabbit	rabbit	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 do	obl
14	before	before	SCONJ	_	15 throwing	mark
15	throwing	throw	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	10 do	advcl
16	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 throwing	obj
17	into	into	ADP	_	21 patch	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 patch	det
19	brier	brier	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 patch	compound
20	-	-	PUNCT	_	19 brier	punct
21	patch	patch	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 throwing	obl
22	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 following	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus
2	fox	past · do-support	Brer			tree rules
3	threaten	infinitive	Brer not said here			tree rules
4	do not said to happen	to-infinitive	Brer not said here		to Brer Rabbit	vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
5	throw	gerund	Brer not said here	Brer	into the brier patch result	vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Causer he=Theme into patch=Result

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

Hang him high

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Hang	hang	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	1 Hang	obj
3	high	high	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Hang	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hang	imperative	you not said here	him = he				high property	vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient

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

Roast him over a brush fire

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Roast	roast	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	1 Roast	obj
3	over	over	ADP	_	6 fire	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 fire	det
5	brush	brush	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 fire	compound
6	fire	fire	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Roast	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	roast	imperative	you not said here	him = he		a brush fire			vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent he=Patient

Option 3

Bake him in a pie

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Bake	bake	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	1 Bake	obj
3	in	in	ADP	_	5 pie	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 pie	det
5	pie	pie	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Bake	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bake	imperative	you not said here	him = he				in a pie	vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent he=Patient in pie=Instrument

Option 4

Drown him in the creek

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Drown	drown	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	1 Drown	obj
3	in	in	ADP	_	5 creek	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 creek	det
5	creek	creek	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Drown	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	drown	imperative	you not said here	him = he		the creek			vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/569-pg2306-part5/e1/