Exam question 3 · The Jungle Book, Toomai of the Elephants, part 27: Peterse…

Describe the manner in which the rope of Kala Nag was severed.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: describe, sever · To what, where: manner, rope

This is exam question 3 of lesson 626 «The Jungle Book, Toomai of the Elephants, part 27: Petersen Sahib praises Little Toomai, and Kala Nag breaks loose at night» 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	Describe	describe	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 manner	det
3	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Describe	obj
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 severed	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 rope	det
7	rope	rope	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 severed	nsubj:pass
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 Kala	case
9	Kala	Kala	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 rope	nmod
10	Nag	Nag	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 Kala	flat
11	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	12 severed	aux:pass
12	severed	sever	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 manner	acl:relcl
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Describe	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	describe	imperative	you not said here	the manner					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent manner=Theme
2	sever	past · passive		the rope of Kala		the manner			vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=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 · ← Mova's choice

The grass loop broke with a loud crack

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 loop	det
2	grass	grass	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 loop	compound
3	loop	loop	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 broke	nsubj
4	broke	break	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 crack	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 crack	det
7	loud	loud	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 crack	amod
8	crack	crack	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 broke	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	break	past	the grass loop					with a loud crack	vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent with crack=Instrument

Option 2

The chain was pulled free with a jerk

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 chain	det
2	chain	chain	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 pulled	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 pulled	aux:pass
4	pulled	pull	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	free	free	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 pulled	xcomp
6	with	with	ADP	_	8 jerk	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 jerk	det
8	jerk	jerk	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 pulled	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pull	past · passive		the chain				with a jerk; free property	vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The coir string snapped with a small tang

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 string	det
2	coir	coir	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 string	compound
3	string	string	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	snapped	snap	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 string	acl
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 tang	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 tang	det
7	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 tang	amod
8	tang	tang	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 snapped	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	snap	participle		the coir string not said here				with a small tang	vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location with tang=Theme

Option 4

The coir string snapped with a small tang as Kala Nag pulled hard against the picket

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 string	det
2	coir	coir	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 string	compound
3	string	string	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 pulled	nsubj
4	snapped	snap	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 string	acl
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 tang	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 tang	det
7	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 tang	amod
8	tang	tang	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 snapped	obl
9	as	as	ADP	_	10 Kala	case
10	Kala	Kala	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 tang	nmod
11	Nag	Nag	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 Kala	flat
12	pulled	pull	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
13	hard	hard	ADV	Degree=Pos	12 pulled	advmod
14	against	against	ADP	_	16 picket	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 picket	det
16	picket	picket	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 pulled	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	snap	participle		the coir string not said here				with a small tang as Kala	vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location with tang=Theme
2	pull	past	the coir string					against the picket; hard property	vn push-12-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent against picket=Theme

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/626-pg236-part27/e3/