Exam question 1 · Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit, Rabbit Succeeded in Raising a…

Which of the following statements most accurately describes the manner in which Brer Rabbit secured the hand of one of the young ladies?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Brer · What happens: follow, describe, secure · To what, where: manner, hand

This is exam question 1 of lesson 585 «Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit, Rabbit Succeeded in Raising a Dust: Fox is tied up and beaten, Rabbit wins a wife» 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	8 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	8 describes	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 describes	advmod
8	describes	describe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 manner	det
10	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 describes	obj
11	in	in	ADP	_	12 which	case
12	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	15 secured	obl
13	Brer	Brer	PROPN	Number=Sing	15 secured	nsubj
14	Rabbit	Rabbit	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 Brer	flat
15	secured	secure	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 manner	acl:relcl
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 hand	det
17	hand	hand	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 secured	obj
18	of	of	ADP	_	19 one	case
19	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	17 hand	nmod
20	of	of	ADP	_	23 ladies	case
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	23 ladies	det
22	young	young	ADJ	Degree=Pos	23 ladies	amod
23	ladies	lady	NOUN	Number=Plur	19 one	nmod
24	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 describes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund					vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	describe	present		the manner		of the following statements; accurately property	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent manner=Theme
3	secure	past	Brer	the hand of one of the young ladies	the manner		vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition hand=Theme

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 · ✓ the right answer

He caused the flint rock to yield dust by a leaping blow with the sludge-hammer

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 caused	nsubj
2	caused	cause	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 rock	det
4	flint	flint	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 rock	compound
5	rock	rock	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 caused	obj
6	to	to	PART	_	7 yield	mark
7	yield	yield	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 caused	advcl
8	dust	dust	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 yield	obj
9	by	by	ADP	_	12 blow	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 blow	det
11	leaping	leap	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	12 blow	amod
12	blow	blow	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 yield	obl
13	with	with	ADP	_	17 hammer	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 hammer	det
15	sludge	sludge	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 hammer	compound
16	-	-	PUNCT	_	15 sludge	punct
17	hammer	hammer	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 blow	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	cause	past	He	the flint rock		vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition rock=Patient
2	yield	to-infinitive	He not said here	dust	by a leaping blow with the sludge hammer	vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent dust=Theme
3	leap	gerund				vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

He outran the fox to the girls by taking a shortcut through the thicket

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 outran	nsubj
2	outran	outrun	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 fox	det
4	fox	fox	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 outran	obj
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 girls	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 girls	det
7	girls	girl	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 outran	obl
8	by	by	SCONJ	_	9 taking	mark
9	taking	take	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 outran	advcl
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 shortcut	det
11	shortcut	shortcut	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 taking	obj
12	through	through	ADP	_	14 thicket	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 thicket	det
14	thicket	thicket	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 taking	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	outrun	past	He	the fox				to the girls	tree rules
2	take	gerund	He not said here	a shortcut		the thicket			vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shortcut=Theme

Option 3

He sang a song to the ladies

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 sang	nsubj
2	sang	sing	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 song	det
4	song	song	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 sang	obj
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 ladies	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 ladies	det
7	ladies	lady	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 sang	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sing speech: express	past	He	a song	the ladies				vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent song=Topic to lady=Recipient

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

He won by cheating at cards

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 won	nsubj
2	won	win	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	by	by	SCONJ	_	4 cheating	mark
4	cheating	cheat	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 won	advcl
5	at	at	ADP	_	6 cards	case
6	cards	card	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 cheating	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	win	past	He						vn succeed-74-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	cheat	gerund	He not said here			cards			vn cheat-10.6.1 «NP V NP»: agent=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/585-pg2306-part21/e1/