Exam question 4 · The Jungle Book, Toomai of the Elephants, part 28: Toomai…

With reference to the passage, explain the meaning of the elephants' conduct towards Little Toomai at the gathering.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, elephants · What happens: explain, mean, conduct · To what, where: meaning, gathering, conduct

This is exam question 4 of lesson 627 «The Jungle Book, Toomai of the Elephants, part 28: Toomai rides Kala Nag to the secret elephant gathering» 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	With	with	ADP	_	2 reference	case
2	reference	reference	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 explain	obl
3	to	to	ADP	_	5 passage	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 passage	det
5	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reference	nmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 reference	punct
7	explain	explain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 meaning	det
9	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 explain	obj
10	of	of	ADP	_	14 conduct	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 elephants	det
12	elephants	elephant	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 conduct	nmod:poss
13	'	's	PART	_	12 elephants	case
14	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 meaning	nmod
15	towards	towards	ADP	_	16 Little	case
16	Little	Little	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 explain	obl
17	Toomai	Toomai	PROPN	Number=Sing	16 Little	flat
18	at	at	ADP	_	20 gathering	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 gathering	det
20	gathering	gathering	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 explain	obl
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	7 explain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	explain speech: assert	imperative	you not said here	the meaning of the elephants's conduct	the gathering	with reference to the passage; towards Little	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Topic
2	mean			the elephants's conduct			nom meaning «communication transitive»: of=patient
3	conduct		the elephants				nom conduct «act transitive»: poss=agent

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

They were not thinking of men that night and paid him no heed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 thinking	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 thinking	aux
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 thinking	advmod
4	thinking	think	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 men	case
6	men	man	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 thinking	obl
7	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 night	det
8	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 men	nmod:unmarked
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 paid	cc
10	paid	pay	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 thinking	conj
11	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 paid	obj
12	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	13 heed	det
13	heed	heed	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 paid	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not think speech: other	past · progressive	They					of men that night	vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	pay	past	They not said here		him = he				vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient heed=Asset

Option 2

The elephants had gathered in such great numbers that the boy was completely forgotten, and every single animal in the herd went about its own business without even glancing at him, as if he were not there at all

The tree, 39 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 elephants	det
2	elephants	elephant	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 gathered	nsubj:pass
3	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 gathered	aux
4	gathered	gather	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	8 numbers	case
6	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 numbers	amod
7	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 numbers	amod
8	numbers	number	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 gathered	obl
9	that	that	SCONJ	_	14 forgotten	mark
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 boy	det
11	boy	boy	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 forgotten	nsubj
12	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	14 forgotten	aux:pass
13	completely	completely	ADV	_	14 forgotten	advmod
14	forgotten	forget	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 numbers	acl:relcl
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	23 went	punct
16	and	and	CCONJ	_	23 went	cc
17	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	19 animal	det
18	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 animal	amod
19	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	23 went	nsubj
20	in	in	ADP	_	22 herd	case
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 herd	det
22	herd	herd	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 animal	nmod
23	went	go	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	14 forgotten	conj
24	about	about	ADP	_	27 business	case
25	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	27 business	nmod:poss
26	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	27 business	amod
27	business	business	NOUN	Number=Sing	23 went	obl
28	without	without	SCONJ	_	30 glancing	mark
29	even	even	ADV	_	30 glancing	advmod
30	glancing	glance	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	23 went	advcl
31	at	at	ADP	_	32 him	case
32	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	30 glancing	obl
33	,	,	PUNCT	_	39 there	punct
34	as	as	SCONJ	_	39 there	mark
35	if	if	SCONJ	_	39 there	mark
36	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	39 there	nsubj
37	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	39 there	cop
38	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	39 there	advmod
39	there	there	ADV	PronType=Dem	14 forgotten	advmod
40	at	at	ADP	_	41 all	case
41	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	39 there	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	gather	past · perfect · passive		the elephants	such great numbers		vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	forget	past · passive		the boy		completely property	tree rules
3	go	past	every single animal in the herd			about animal's own business	vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme about business=Location
4	glance	gerund	every single animal in the herd not said here			at boy	vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at he=Theme
5	not is a condition, not said to happen	past	boy		all	there property	tree rules

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

They were too busy with their dance to notice him

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 busy	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 busy	cop
3	too	too	ADV	_	4 busy	advmod
4	busy	busy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 dance	case
6	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 dance	nmod:poss
7	dance	dance	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 busy	obl
8	to	to	PART	_	9 notice	mark
9	notice	notice	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 busy	advcl
10	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 notice	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	past	They		with their dance; busy property	tree rules
2	notice	to-infinitive	They not said here	him = he		vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus
3	dance		their = they			nom dance «communication transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

They treated him as a tame guest and let him sit among them

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 treated	nsubj
2	treated	treat	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 treated	obj
4	as	as	ADP	_	7 guest	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 guest	det
6	tame	tame	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 guest	amod
7	guest	guest	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 treated	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 let	cc
9	let	let	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	2 treated	conj
10	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 let	obj
11	sit	sit	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 let	xcomp
12	among	among	ADP	_	13 them	case
13	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 sit	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	treat	past	They	him = he	as a tame guest	vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent he=Theme as guest=Attribute
2	let	infinitive	They not said here	guest		tree rules
3	sit	infinitive	guest not said here		among them = they	vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent among they=Location

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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