Exam question 3 · Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit, Rabbit Succeeded in Raising a…

In what manner did Brer Fox respond to the failure of his three blows upon the rock?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: Brer, three blows · What happens: fox, fail, blow · To what, where: respond, manner

This is exam question 3 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	In	in	ADP	_	3 manner	case
2	what	what	DET	PronType=Int	3 manner	det
3	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 Fox	obl
4	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 Fox	aux
5	Brer	Brer	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 Fox	nsubj
6	Fox	fox	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
7	respond	respond	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 Fox	obj
8	to	to	ADP	_	10 failure	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 failure	det
10	failure	failure	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 Fox	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 blows	case
12	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 blows	nmod:poss
13	three	three	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	14 blows	nummod
14	blows	blow	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 failure	nmod
15	upon	upon	ADP	_	17 rock	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 rock	det
17	rock	rock	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 blows	nmod
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 Fox	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	fox	past · do-support	Brer	respond	what manner	to the failure of Brer's three blows upon the rock	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus respond=Experiencer
2	fail		Brer's three blows upon the rock				nom failure «act intransitive»: of=agent
3	blow		Brer			upon the rock	nom blow «act intransitive»: poss=agent upon=obl

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 spat upon his hands and swung with great force, then yelled at the ladies to move back

The tree, 18 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 spat	nsubj
2	spat	spat	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	upon	upon	ADP	_	5 hands	case
4	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 hands	nmod:poss
5	hands	hand	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 spat	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 swung	cc
7	swung	swing	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 spat	conj
8	with	with	ADP	_	10 force	case
9	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 force	amod
10	force	force	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 swung	obl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 yelled	punct
12	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	13 yelled	advmod
13	yelled	yell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 spat	parataxis
14	at	at	ADP	_	16 ladies	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 ladies	det
16	ladies	lady	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 yelled	obl
17	to	to	PART	_	18 move	mark
18	move	move	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	13 yelled	advcl
19	back	back	ADV	_	18 move	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	when	other	roles by
1	spat	past	He		upon his hands	vn battle-36.4 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	swing	participle	He not said here		with great force	vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute
3	yell speech: express	participle		then	at the ladies	vn animal_sounds-38 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Agent at lady=Stimulus
4	move back	to-infinitive				vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

He wiped his face and tried it again slowly

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 wiped	nsubj
2	wiped	wipe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 face	nmod:poss
4	face	face	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 wiped	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 tried	cc
6	tried	try	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 wiped	conj
7	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 tried	obj
8	again	again	ADV	_	6 tried	advmod
9	slowly	slowly	ADV	_	6 tried	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	wipe	past	He	his face					vn wipe_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent face=Source
2	try	past	He not said here	face			again	slowly property	vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality

Option 3

He tied his harness tighter, shook his head, and promised to make the rock break at last

The tree, 17 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 tied	nsubj
2	tied	tie	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 harness	nmod:poss
4	harness	harness	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 tied	obj
5	tighter	tight	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	2 tied	xcomp
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 shook	punct
7	shook	shake	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 tied	conj
8	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 head	nmod:poss
9	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 shook	obj
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 promised	punct
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 promised	cc
12	promised	promise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 tied	conj
13	to	to	PART	_	14 make	mark
14	make	make	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	17 break	advcl
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 rock	det
16	rock	rock	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 make	obj
17	break	break	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 promised	parataxis
18	at	at	ADP	_	19 last	case
19	last	last	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 break	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	tie	past	He	his harness		tight property	vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent harness=Patient
2	shake	past	He not said here	his head			vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent head=Patient
3	promise speech: promise	past	He not said here				vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
4	make	to-infinitive		the rock			vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset rock=Product
5	break	present			last		vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at last=Location

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

He spat upon his hands and swung with great force

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 spat	nsubj
2	spat	spat	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	upon	upon	ADP	_	5 hands	case
4	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 hands	nmod:poss
5	hands	hand	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 spat	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 swung	cc
7	swung	swing	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 spat	conj
8	with	with	ADP	_	10 force	case
9	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 force	amod
10	force	force	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 swung	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	spat	past	He					upon his hands	vn battle-36.4 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	swing	participle	He not said here					with great force	vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute

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/e3/