Exam question 1 · Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Brer Buzzard, part 16: Rabbit…

By what means did Brer Rabbit secure his return journey from the island?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Brer · What happens: mean, secure, journey · To what, where: return journey, island · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 1 of lesson 580 «Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Brer Buzzard, part 16: Rabbit tricks Buzzard into carrying him home from the island» 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	By	by	SCONJ	_	3 means	mark
2	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	3 means	nsubj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 secure	aux
5	Brer	Brer	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 secure	nsubj
6	Rabbit	Rabbit	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 Brer	flat
7	secure	secure	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 means	ccomp
8	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 journey	nmod:poss
9	return	return	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 journey	compound
10	journey	journey	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 secure	obj
11	from	from	ADP	_	13 island	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 island	det
13	island	island	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 secure	obl
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 means	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	mean	present				vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	secure	past · do-support	Brer	Brer's return journey	the island	vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent journey=Theme from island=Source
3	journey		Brer			nom journey «act 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

He persuaded the Buzzard to carry him back home, having agreed beforehand to divide all the spoils fairly between them both

The tree, 21 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 persuaded	nsubj
2	persuaded	persuade	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 Buzzard	det
4	Buzzard	Buzzard	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 persuaded	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 carry	mark
6	carry	carry	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 persuaded	advcl
7	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 carry	obj
8	back	back	ADV	_	9 home	advmod
9	home	home	ADV	_	6 carry	advmod
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 having	punct
11	having	have	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 persuaded	advcl
12	agreed	agree	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 having	xcomp
13	beforehand	beforehand	ADV	_	15 divide	advmod
14	to	to	PART	_	15 divide	mark
15	divide	divide	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 agreed	xcomp
16	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	18 spoils	det:predet
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 spoils	det
18	spoils	spoil	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 divide	ccomp
19	fairly	fairly	ADV	_	18 spoils	advmod
20	between	between	ADP	_	21 them	case
21	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	18 spoils	obl
22	both	both	DET	PronType=Tot	18 spoils	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	persuade	past	He	the Buzzard		vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent buzzard=Patient
2	carry	to-infinitive	He not said here	him = he	home property	vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme
3	have	gerund	He not said here			tree rules
4	agree speech: agree	participle	He not said here			vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
5	divide not said to happen	to-infinitive	He not said here		beforehand property	tree rules
6	spoil	present	He not said here	both	between them = they; fairly property	tree rules

Option 2

He convinced Buzzard to fly him back by dividing the spoils fairly

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 convinced	nsubj
2	convinced	convince	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	Buzzard	Buzzard	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 convinced	obj
4	to	to	PART	_	5 fly	mark
5	fly	fly	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 convinced	xcomp
6	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 fly	obj
7	back	back	ADV	_	5 fly	advmod
8	by	by	SCONJ	_	9 dividing	mark
9	dividing	divide	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 fly	advcl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 spoils	det
11	spoils	spoil	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 dividing	ccomp
12	fairly	fairly	ADV	_	9 dividing	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	convince	past	He	Buzzard		vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent buzzard=Patient clause=Result
2	fly back	to-infinitive	He not said here	Buzzard		vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location he=Theme
3	divide	gerund	He not said here		fairly property	tree rules
4	spoil	present	He not said here			vn entity_specific_cos-45.5 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

He tricked the Buzzard into carrying him after they agreed on a share

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 tricked	nsubj
2	tricked	trick	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 Buzzard	det
4	Buzzard	Buzzard	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 tricked	obj
5	into	into	SCONJ	_	6 carrying	mark
6	carrying	carry	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 tricked	advcl
7	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 carrying	obj
8	after	after	SCONJ	_	10 agreed	mark
9	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 agreed	nsubj
10	agreed	agree	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 tricked	advcl
11	on	on	ADP	_	13 share	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 share	det
13	share	share	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 agreed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	trick	past	He	the Buzzard		vn trick-59.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent buzzard=Patient
2	carry	gerund	He not said here	him = he		vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme
3	agree speech: agree	past	they		on a share	vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V PP.theme S»: agent=Agent on share=Topic

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

He persuaded the Buzzard to carry him back, having agreed to divide the spoils fairly

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	2 persuaded	nsubj
2	persuaded	persuade	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 Buzzard	det
4	Buzzard	Buzzard	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 persuaded	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 carry	mark
6	carry	carry	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 persuaded	advcl
7	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 carry	obj
8	back	back	ADV	_	6 carry	advmod
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 having	punct
10	having	have	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	15 spoils	csubj
11	agreed	agree	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 having	xcomp
12	to	to	PART	_	13 divide	mark
13	divide	divide	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	11 agreed	xcomp
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 divide	obj
15	spoils	spoil	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 persuaded	parataxis
16	fairly	fairly	ADV	_	15 spoils	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	persuade	past	He	the Buzzard		vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent buzzard=Patient
2	carry back	to-infinitive	He not said here	him = he		vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme
3	have	gerund				tree rules
4	agree speech: agree	participle				vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
5	divide not said to happen	to-infinitive		the		vn multiply-108-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent the=Theme
6	spoil	present	having		fairly property	vn entity_specific_cos-45.5 «NP.patient V»: agent=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.

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