Exam question 4 · Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and Brer Buzzard, part 16: Rabbit…

By what mechanism was Brer Rabbit ultimately immobilised at the close of the tale?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: mechanism · What happens: be, immobilis · To what, where: Brer Rabbit, close

This is exam question 4 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	ADP	_	2 what	case
2	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	root	root
3	mechanism	mechanism	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 Rabbit	nsubj
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 Rabbit	cop
5	Brer	Brer	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 Rabbit	compound
6	Rabbit	rabbit	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 what	acl:relcl
7	ultimately	ultimately	ADV	_	8 immobilised	advmod
8	immobilised	immobilis	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 Rabbit	acl
9	at	at	ADP	_	11 close	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 close	det
11	close	close	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 immobilised	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 tale	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 tale	det
14	tale	tale	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 close	nmod
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	2 what	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	mechanism	Brer Rabbit					tree rules
2	immobilis	participle		Brer Rabbit not said here		the close of the tale		ultimately property	tree rules

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

A loop-knot fastened behind his forelegs released by a bent sapling

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 knot	det
2	loop	loop	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 knot	compound
3	-	-	PUNCT	_	2 loop	punct
4	knot	knot	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	fastened	fasten	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 knot	acl
6	behind	behind	ADP	_	8 forelegs	case
7	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 forelegs	nmod:poss
8	forelegs	foreleg	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 fastened	obl
9	released	release	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 forelegs	acl
10	by	by	ADP	_	13 sapling	case
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 sapling	det
12	bent	bent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 sapling	amod
13	sapling	sapling	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 released	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fasten	participle		a loop knot not said here		his forelegs			vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
2	release	participle		his forelegs not said here				by a bent sapling	vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Causer

Option 2

A loop-knot fastened behind his forelegs and released by a bent hickory sapling when he struggled

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 knot	det
2	loop	loop	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 knot	compound
3	-	-	PUNCT	_	2 loop	punct
4	knot	knot	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	fastened	fasten	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 knot	acl
6	behind	behind	ADP	_	8 forelegs	case
7	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 forelegs	nmod:poss
8	forelegs	foreleg	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 fastened	obl
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 released	cc
10	released	release	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 fastened	conj
11	by	by	ADP	_	15 sapling	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 sapling	det
13	bent	bent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 sapling	amod
14	hickory	hickory	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 sapling	compound
15	sapling	sapling	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 released	obl
16	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	18 struggled	advmod
17	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	18 struggled	nsubj
18	struggled	struggle	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 released	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	fasten	participle		a loop knot not said here	his forelegs		vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
2	release	participle				by a bent hickory sapling	vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Causer
3	struggle	past	he				vn battle-36.4 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

A rope fastened round his hind legs by a bent branch

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 rope	det
2	rope	rope	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	fastened	fasten	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 rope	acl
4	round	round	ADP	_	7 legs	case
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 legs	nmod:poss
6	hind	hind	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 legs	amod
7	legs	leg	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 fastened	obl
8	by	by	ADP	_	11 branch	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 branch	det
10	bent	bent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 branch	amod
11	branch	branch	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 fastened	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fasten	participle		a rope not said here				round his hind legs; by a bent branch	vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient

Option 4

A tight loop-knot fastened behind his forelegs and tied off to a bent sapling that sprang back when he kicked

The tree, 21 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 knot	det
2	tight	tight	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 knot	amod
3	loop	loop	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 knot	compound
4	-	-	PUNCT	_	3 loop	punct
5	knot	knot	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	fastened	fasten	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 knot	acl
7	behind	behind	ADP	_	9 forelegs	case
8	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 forelegs	nmod:poss
9	forelegs	foreleg	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 fastened	obl
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 tied	cc
11	tied	tie	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 fastened	conj
12	off	off	ADP	_	11 tied	compound:prt
13	to	to	ADP	_	16 sapling	case
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 sapling	det
15	bent	bent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 sapling	amod
16	sapling	sapling	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 tied	obl
17	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	18 sprang	nsubj
18	sprang	spring	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	16 sapling	acl:relcl
19	back	back	ADV	_	18 sprang	advmod
20	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	22 kicked	advmod
21	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	22 kicked	nsubj
22	kicked	kick	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 fastened	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	fasten	participle		a tight loop knot not said here	his forelegs		vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
2	tie off	participle				to a bent sapling	vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V ADVP-Middle PP»: agent=Patient to sapling=Co-Patient
3	spring back	past	a bent sapling				vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme
4	kick	past	he				vn split-23.2 «NP V apart»: 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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/580-pg2306-part16/e4/