Exam question 1 · Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and the Well: Brer Fox falls down…

Which of the following statements correctly describes the action of Brer Rabbit upon entering the well-bucket?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: action, Brer Rabbit · What happens: follow, describe, enter, act · To what, where: action, bucket

This is exam question 1 of lesson 576 «Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and the Well: Brer Fox falls down the well, and the butter goes missing» 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	7 describes	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Which	nmod
6	correctly	correctly	ADV	_	7 describes	advmod
7	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 action	det
9	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 describes	obj
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 Rabbit	case
11	Brer	Brer	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 Rabbit	compound
12	Rabbit	Rabbit	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 action	nmod
13	upon	upon	SCONJ	_	14 entering	mark
14	entering	enter	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	9 action	acl
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 bucket	det
16	well	well	ADV	Degree=Pos	18 bucket	advmod
17	-	-	PUNCT	_	16 well	punct
18	bucket	bucket	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 entering	obj
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 describes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	describe	present		the action of Brer Rabbit	correctly property	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent action=Theme
3	enter	gerund	the action of Brer Rabbit not said here	the bucket		vn escape-51.1-1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme bucket=Destination
4	act		Brer Rabbit			nom action «act intransitive»: of=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

He stayed in the bucket and rode up and down the well several times before leaving

The tree, 16 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	2 stayed	nsubj
2	stayed	stay	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	5 bucket	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 bucket	det
5	bucket	bucket	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 stayed	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 rode	cc
7	rode	ride	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 stayed	conj
8	up	up	ADP	_	7 rode	compound:prt
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 times	cc
10	down	down	ADP	_	14 times	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 times	det
12	well	well	ADV	Degree=Pos	13 several	advmod
13	several	several	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 times	amod
14	times	time	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 rode	obl:unmarked
15	before	before	SCONJ	_	16 leaving	mark
16	leaving	leave	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	7 rode	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	when	roles by
1	stay	past	He	the bucket		vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in bucket=Location
2	ride up	past	He not said here		time	vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent
3	leave	gerund	He not said here			vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

He hid inside the bucket and sank down into the dark water

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	2 hid	nsubj
2	hid	hide	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	inside	inside	ADP	_	5 bucket	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 bucket	det
5	bucket	bucket	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 hid	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 sank	cc
7	sank	sink	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 hid	conj
8	down	down	ADV	_	7 sank	advmod
9	into	into	ADP	_	12 water	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 water	det
11	dark	dark	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 water	amod
12	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 sank	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hide	past	He			the bucket			vn concealment-16-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent inside bucket=Location
2	sink down	past	He not said here			the dark water		down property	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 3

He crouched inside the bucket and slid slowly down the well

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	2 crouched	nsubj
2	crouched	crouch	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	inside	inside	ADP	_	5 bucket	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 bucket	det
5	bucket	bucket	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 crouched	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 slid	cc
7	slid	slide	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 crouched	conj
8	slowly	slowly	ADV	_	7 slid	advmod
9	down	down	ADP	_	11 well	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 well	det
11	well	well	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 slid	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	crouch	past	He			the bucket			vn spatial_configuration-47.6 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme inside bucket=Location
2	slide	past	He not said here			the well		slowly property	vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme down well=Trajectory

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

He concealed himself within the bucket and descended into the well

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	2 concealed	nsubj
2	concealed	conceal	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	himself	himself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	2 concealed	obj
4	within	within	ADP	_	6 bucket	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 bucket	det
6	bucket	bucket	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 concealed	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 descended	cc
8	descended	descend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 concealed	conj
9	into	into	ADP	_	11 well	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 well	det
11	well	well	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 descended	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	conceal	past	He	himself = he				within the bucket	vn concealment-16 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Patient
2	descend	participle	He not said here			the well			vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into well=Location

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/576-pg2306-part12/e1/