Exam question 2 · Uncle Remus, Possum Has No Hair on His Tail: Brer Possum l…

What reason did the narrator give for the loss of hair upon the tail of the Possum?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: narrator · What happens: give

This is exam question 2 of lesson 583 «Uncle Remus, Possum Has No Hair on His Tail: Brer Possum loses his tail hair while stealing Brer Bear's persimmons.» 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	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	6 give	obl
2	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 What	nsubj
3	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 give	aux
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 narrator	det
5	narrator	narrator	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 give	nsubj
6	give	give	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
7	for	for	ADP	_	9 loss	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 loss	det
9	loss	loss	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 give	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 hair	case
11	hair	hair	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 loss	nmod
12	upon	upon	ADP	_	14 tail	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 tail	det
14	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 give	obl
15	of	of	ADP	_	17 Possum	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 Possum	det
17	Possum	Possum	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 tail	nmod
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 give	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	past · do-support	the narrator					for the loss of hair; upon the tail of the Possum	vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent for loss=Asset

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

Brer Bear's grip as the Possum fled through the fence rails

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Brer	Brer	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 Bear	compound
2	Bear	Bear	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 grip	nmod:poss
3	's	's	PART	_	2 Bear	case
4	grip	grip	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 fled	nsubj
5	as	as	ADP	_	7 Possum	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Possum	det
7	Possum	Possum	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 grip	nmod
8	fled	flee	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	through	through	ADP	_	12 rails	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 rails	det
11	fence	fence	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 rails	compound
12	rails	rail	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 fled	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	flee	past	Brer Bear's grip as the Possum			the fence rails			vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme through rail=Initial_Location
2	grip		Brer Bear					as the Possum	nom grip «act transitive»: poss=agent as=obl

Option 2

the Possum's tail catching on the fence while he fled in fear

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Possum	det
2	Possum	Possum	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 tail	nmod:poss
3	's	's	PART	_	2 Possum	case
4	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 catching	nsubj
5	catching	catch	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
6	on	on	ADP	_	8 fence	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 fence	det
8	fence	fence	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 catching	obl
9	while	while	SCONJ	_	11 fled	mark
10	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 fled	nsubj
11	fled	flee	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 catching	advcl
12	in	in	ADP	_	13 fear	case
13	fear	fear	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 fled	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	catch	gerund	the Possum's tail			the fence			vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	flee	past	tail			fear			vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

the bees stinging his tail as he ran

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 bees	det
2	bees	bee	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 stinging	nsubj
3	stinging	sting	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
4	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 tail	nmod:poss
5	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 stinging	obj
6	as	as	SCONJ	_	8 ran	mark
7	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 ran	nsubj
8	ran	run	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 stinging	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sting	gerund	the bees	his tail					vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus tail=Experiencer
2	run	past	he						vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Brer Bear's grip while the Possum fled

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Brer	Brer	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 Bear	compound
2	Bear	Bear	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 grip	nmod:poss
3	's	's	PART	_	2 Bear	case
4	grip	grip	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 fled	nsubj
5	while	while	SCONJ	_	7 Possum	mark
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Possum	det
7	Possum	Possum	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 grip	nmod
8	fled	flee	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	flee	past	Brer Bear's grip the Possum						vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	grip		Brer Bear						nom grip «act transitive»: poss=agent

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/583-pg2306-part19/e2/