Exam question 1 · The Jungle Book, The White Seal, part 19: Kotick mocks Sea…

What did Sea Vitch's reply to Kotick's request for information consist of?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: Sea Vitch, Kotick · What happens: do, reply, request · To what, where: reply

This is exam question 1 of lesson 618 «The Jungle Book, The White Seal, part 19: Kotick mocks Sea Vitch, then searches the seas for a quiet island and finds men had been there first» 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	2 did	nsubj
2	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	Sea	Sea	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 Vitch	compound
4	Vitch	Vitch	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 reply	nmod:poss
5	's	's	PART	_	4 Vitch	case
6	reply	reply	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 did	obj
7	to	to	ADP	_	10 request	case
8	Kotick	Kotick	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 request	nmod:poss
9	's	's	PART	_	8 Kotick	case
10	request	request	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 did	obl
11	for	for	ADP	_	13 consist	case
12	information	information	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 consist	compound
13	consist	consist	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 request	nmod
14	of	of	ADP	_	13 consist	case
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	2 did	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	do	past		Sea Vitch's reply	to Kotick's request for information consist	vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reply=Eventuality
2	reply		Sea Vitch			nom reply «communication transitive»: poss=agent
3	request		Kotick		for information consist	nom request «communication transitive»: poss=agent for=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

A long and detailed account of the sea cow's habits, given without any direction to seek him out.

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 account	det
2	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 account	amod
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	4 detailed	cc
4	detailed	detailed	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 long	conj
5	account	account	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 habits	nsubj
6	of	of	ADP	_	11 habits	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 cow	det
8	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 cow	compound
9	cow	cow	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 habits	nmod:poss
10	's	's	PART	_	9 cow	case
11	habits	habit	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 given	punct
13	given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 habits	acl
14	without	without	ADP	_	16 direction	case
15	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	16 direction	det
16	direction	direction	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 given	obl
17	to	to	PART	_	18 seek	mark
18	seek	seek	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	13 given	advcl
19	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	18 seek	obj
20	out	out	ADP	_	18 seek	compound:prt
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	11 habits	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	participle		the sea cow's habits not said here				without any direction	vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient
2	seek out	to-infinitive		account					vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme

Option 2

A promise that Sea Cow would answer, though the reply itself gave no real information at all.

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	2 promise	det
2	promise	promise	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 answer	obj
4	Sea	Sea	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 Cow	compound
5	Cow	Cow	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 answer	nsubj
6	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	7 answer	aux
7	answer	answer	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 promise	acl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 gave	punct
9	though	though	SCONJ	_	13 gave	mark
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 reply	det
11	reply	reply	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 gave	nsubj
12	itself	itself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Emp Reflex=Yes	11 reply	nmod:unmarked
13	gave	give	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 answer	conj
14	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	16 information	det
15	real	real	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 information	amod
16	information	information	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 gave	obj
17	at	at	ADP	_	18 all	case
18	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	16 information	nmod
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 promise	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	answer speech: assert	would	Sea Cow	a promise					vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent that=Eventuality
2	give	past	the reply reply	no real information		all			vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent information=Theme at all=Asset

Option 3

A refusal to answer, followed by a vague wish that Kotick should ask the gulls and puffins instead of anyone else.

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	2 refusal	det
2	refusal	refusal	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 answer	mark
4	answer	answer	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 refusal	acl
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 followed	punct
6	followed	follow	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 refusal	acl
7	by	by	ADP	_	10 wish	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 wish	det
9	vague	vague	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 wish	amod
10	wish	wish	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 followed	obl
11	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	14 ask	nsubj
12	Kotick	Kotick	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 ask	nsubj
13	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	14 ask	aux
14	ask	ask	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 wish	acl:relcl
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 gulls	det
16	gulls	gull	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 ask	obj
17	and	and	CCONJ	_	18 puffins	cc
18	puffins	puffin	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 gulls	conj
19	instead	instead	ADV	ExtPos=ADP	21 anyone	case
20	of	of	ADP	_	19 instead	fixed
21	anyone	anyone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	14 ask	obl
22	else	else	ADV	_	21 anyone	advmod
23	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 refusal	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	answer speech: assert	to-infinitive				vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	follow	participle		a refusal not said here	by a vague wish	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme by wish=Location
3	ask speech: ask	should	a vague wish	the gulls and puffins	instead anyone	vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent gull=Recipient

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

An instruction to seek out Sea Cow, the reply having been given without any real answer.

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 instruction	det
2	instruction	instruction	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 seek	nsubj
3	to	to	PART	_	4 seek	mark
4	seek	seek	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	out	out	ADP	_	4 seek	compound:prt
6	Sea	Sea	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 Cow	compound
7	Cow	Cow	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 seek	obj
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 reply	punct
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 reply	det
10	reply	reply	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 Cow	appos
11	having	have	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	13 given	aux
12	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	13 given	aux:pass
13	given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 reply	acl
14	without	without	ADP	_	17 answer	case
15	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	17 answer	det
16	real	real	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 answer	amod
17	answer	answer	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 given	obl
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	4 seek	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	seek out	to-infinitive	a instruction	Sea Cow					vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cow=Theme
2	give	gerund · perfect · passive		the reply not said here				without any real answer	vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»

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/618-pg236-part19/e1/