Exam question 4 · Uncle Remus, The Tar-Baby, part 5: Brer Rabbit tricks Brer…
Which phrase, used by Brer Rabbit, expresses his claim to belong in the brier-patch?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: phrase · What happens: use, express, belong, claim · To what, where: phrase, claim, brier patch
This is exam question 4 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 | DET | PronType=Int | 2 phrase | det |
| 2 | phrase | phrase | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 expresses | nsubj |
| 3 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 used | punct |
| 4 | used | use | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 2 phrase | acl |
| 5 | by | by | ADP | _ | 6 Brer | case |
| 6 | Brer | Brer | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 used | obl:agent |
| 7 | Rabbit | Rabbit | PROPN | Number=Sing | 6 Brer | flat |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 2 phrase | punct |
| 9 | expresses | express | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 10 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 11 claim | nmod:poss |
| 11 | claim | claim | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 expresses | obj |
| 12 | to | to | PART | _ | 13 belong | mark |
| 13 | belong | belong | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 9 expresses | advcl |
| 14 | in | in | ADP | _ | 18 patch | case |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 patch | det |
| 16 | brier | brier | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 patch | compound |
| 17 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 16 brier | punct |
| 18 | patch | patch | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 belong | obl |
| 19 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 9 expresses | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | use | participle | which phrase not said here | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | express | present | which phrase | phrase's claim | vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent claim=Theme | ||||
| 3 | belong | to-infinitive | which phrase not said here | the brier patch | vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 4 | claim | phrase | nom claim «communication transitive»: 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 · ← Mova's choice
Born in the thorny bushes
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Born | bear | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 2 | in | in | ADP | _ | 5 bushes | case |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 bushes | det |
| 4 | thorny | thorny | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 bushes | amod |
| 5 | bushes | bush | NOUN | Number=Plur | 1 Born | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | bear | participle | the thorny bushes | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
Option 2
Ain't no fox gonna keep me out, I was bred and born in the briars
The tree, 16 words
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ai | ai | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 fox | nsubj |
| 2 | n't | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 4 fox | advmod |
| 3 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 4 fox | det |
| 4 | fox | fox | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 5 | gonna | gonna | PART | _ | 6 keep | mark |
| 6 | keep | keep | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 fox | acl |
| 7 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 6 keep | obj |
| 8 | out | out | ADP | _ | 6 keep | compound:prt |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 bred | punct |
| 10 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 12 bred | nsubj |
| 11 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 bred | aux:pass |
| 12 | bred | breed | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 4 fox | acl |
| 13 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 14 born | cc |
| 14 | born | bear | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 12 bred | conj |
| 15 | in | in | ADP | _ | 17 briars | case |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 briars | det |
| 17 | briars | briar | NOUN | Number=Plur | 14 born | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | keep out | infinitive | no fox not said here | me | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme | ||||
| 2 | breed | past · passive | I | tree rules | |||||
| 3 | bear | participle | the briars | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
Option 3
I'm a fox, not a rabbit
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 4 fox | nsubj |
| 2 | 'm | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 fox | cop |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 4 fox | det |
| 4 | fox | fox | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 rabbit | punct |
| 6 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 8 rabbit | advmod |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 rabbit | det |
| 8 | rabbit | rabbit | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 fox | conj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | I | a fox and a rabbit | tree rules |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
Bred and born in a brier-patch
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bred | breed | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 2 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 3 born | cc |
| 3 | born | bear | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 1 Bred | conj |
| 4 | in | in | ADP | _ | 8 patch | case |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 patch | det |
| 6 | brier | brier | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 patch | compound |
| 7 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 6 brier | punct |
| 8 | patch | patch | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Bred | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | breed | participle | a brier patch | tree rules | |||||
| 2 | bear | participle | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
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/e4/