Exam question 3 · Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Brer Buzzard, part 16: Rabbit…

Which party is responsible for planting the goober patch that Brer Rabbit subsequently raided?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: party · What happens: be, plant, raid · To what, where: goober patch

This is exam question 3 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	Which	which	DET	PronType=Int	2 party	det
2	party	party	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 responsible	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 responsible	cop
4	responsible	responsible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	for	for	SCONJ	_	6 planting	mark
6	planting	plant	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 responsible	advcl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 patch	det
8	goober	goober	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 patch	compound
9	patch	patch	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 planting	obj
10	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	14 raided	nsubj:pass
11	Brer	Brer	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 Rabbit	compound
12	Rabbit	Rabbit	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 raided	nsubj:pass
13	subsequently	subsequently	ADV	_	14 raided	advmod
14	raided	raid	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 patch	acl:relcl
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 responsible	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	present	which party		responsible property	tree rules
2	plant	gerund	which party not said here	the goober patch		vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent patch=Patient
3	raid	participle · passive		the goober patch	subsequently property	vn investigate-35.4 «NP V NP.location»: subject=Location

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 · ✓ the right answer

Brer Fox, who prepared the ground and sowed the goobers himself

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Brer	Brer	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 prepared	nsubj
2	Fox	Fox	PROPN	Number=Sing	1 Brer	flat
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 prepared	punct
4	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 prepared	nsubj
5	prepared	prepare	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 ground	det
7	ground	ground	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 prepared	obj
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 sowed	cc
9	sowed	sow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 prepared	conj
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 goobers	det
11	goobers	goober	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 sowed	obj
12	himself	himself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	9 sowed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prepare	past	Brer	the ground					vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ground=Patient
2	sow	past	Brer not said here	the goobers				Brer obl	vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent goober=Theme

Option 2

Brer Fox, who hired workers to clear and sow the field

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Brer	Brer	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 hired	nsubj
2	Fox	Fox	PROPN	Number=Sing	1 Brer	flat
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 hired	punct
4	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 hired	nsubj
5	hired	hire	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	workers	worker	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 hired	obj
7	to	to	PART	_	8 clear	mark
8	clear	clear	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 hired	advcl
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 sow	cc
10	sow	sow	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 clear	conj
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 field	det
12	field	field	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 sow	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	hire	past	Brer	workers	vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent worker=Theme
2	clear	to-infinitive	Brer not said here		vn clear-10.3-1 «NP.Source V»: agent=Source
3	sow	infinitive	Brer not said here	the field	vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent field=Theme

Option 3

Brer Rabbit, who sowed them

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Brer	Brer	PROPN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	Rabbit	Rabbit	PROPN	Number=Sing	1 Brer	flat
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 sowed	punct
4	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 sowed	nsubj
5	sowed	sow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	1 Brer	acl:relcl
6	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 sowed	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sow	past	Brer	them = they					vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent they=Theme

Option 4

Brer Wolf, who prepared the ground and sowed the seeds himself

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Brer	Brer	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 prepared	nsubj
2	Wolf	Wolf	PROPN	Number=Sing	1 Brer	flat
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 prepared	punct
4	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 prepared	nsubj
5	prepared	prepare	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 ground	det
7	ground	ground	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 prepared	obj
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 sowed	cc
9	sowed	sow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 prepared	conj
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 seeds	det
11	seeds	seed	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 sowed	obj
12	himself	himself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	9 sowed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prepare	past	Brer	the ground					vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ground=Patient
2	sow	past	Brer not said here	the seeds				Brer obl	vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent seed=Theme

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/580-pg2306-part16/e3/