Exam question 2 · Alice in Wonderland, chapter III, part 2: Prizes, a long t…

Ascertain the provenance of the elegant thimble presented to the protagonist by the Dodo.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, present · To what, where: provenance, elegant thimble, protagonist

This is exam question 2 of lesson 6 «Alice in Wonderland, chapter III, part 2: Prizes, a long tale, and Dinah again» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 provenance	det
3	provenance	provenance	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 thimble	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 thimble	det
6	elegant	elegant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 thimble	amod
7	thimble	thimble	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 provenance	nmod
8	presented	present	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 thimble	acl
9	to	to	ADP	_	11 protagonist	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 protagonist	det
11	protagonist	protagonist	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 presented	obl
12	by	by	ADP	_	14 Dodo	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 Dodo	det
14	Dodo	Dodo	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 protagonist	nmod
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the provenance of the elegant thimble					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent provenance=Topic
2	present	participle		the elegant thimble not said here	the protagonist by the Dodo				vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to protagonist=Recipient

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

It had previously been the protagonist's own property, taken from her pocket and returned by the Dodo

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 had	nsubj
2	had	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 property	parataxis
3	previously	previously	ADV	_	2 had	advmod
4	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	9 property	cop
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 protagonist	det
6	protagonist	protagonist	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 property	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 protagonist	case
8	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 property	amod
9	property	property	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 taken	punct
11	taken	take	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 property	acl
12	from	from	ADP	_	14 pocket	case
13	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 pocket	nmod:poss
14	pocket	pocket	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 taken	obl
15	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 returned	cc
16	returned	return	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 taken	conj
17	by	by	ADP	_	19 Dodo	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 Dodo	det
19	Dodo	Dodo	PROPN	Number=Sing	16 returned	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	have	past	It			previously property	vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	is a	participle		the protagonist's own property			tree rules
3	take	participle		the protagonist's own property not said here	her pocket		vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial_location»: agent=Agent from pocket=Initial_Location
4	return	participle				by the Dodo	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

It had been given by the Mouse to the Dodo

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 given	nsubj:pass
2	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 given	aux
3	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	4 given	aux:pass
4	given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 Mouse	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Mouse	det
7	Mouse	mouse	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 given	obl
8	to	to	ADP	_	10 Dodo	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 Dodo	det
10	Dodo	Dodo	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 given	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	past · perfect · passive	the Mouse	It	the Dodo				vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent subject=Theme to dodo=Recipient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It had previously been the protagonist's own property

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 had	nsubj
2	had	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	previously	previously	ADV	_	6 protagonist	advmod
4	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	6 protagonist	cop
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 protagonist	det
6	protagonist	protagonist	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 property	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 protagonist	case
8	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 property	amod
9	property	property	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 had	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	have	past	It	the protagonist's own property					vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent property=Patient
2	is	participle						's the protagonist; previously property	tree rules

Option 4

It had been the protagonist's own property all along, though the Dodo had made a show of its gift

The tree, 20 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 property	nsubj
2	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 property	aux
3	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	8 property	cop
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 protagonist	det
5	protagonist	protagonist	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 property	nmod:poss
6	's	's	PART	_	5 protagonist	case
7	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 property	amod
8	property	property	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
9	all	all	ADV	_	10 along	advmod
10	along	along	ADV	_	8 property	advmod
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 made	punct
12	though	though	SCONJ	_	16 made	mark
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 Dodo	det
14	Dodo	Dodo	PROPN	Number=Sing	16 made	nsubj:pass
15	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	16 made	aux
16	made	make	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 property	parataxis
17	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	18 show	det
18	show	show	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 made	obj
19	of	of	ADP	_	21 gift	case
20	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	21 gift	nmod:poss
21	gift	gift	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 show	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is a	past · perfect	It	the protagonist's own property	along property	tree rules
2	make	past · perfect · passive		the Dodo		vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: subject=Beneficiary show=Product
3	show			Dodo's gift		nom show «act transitive»: of=patient
4	gift		Dodo			nom gift «possession 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.

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