Exam question 2 · The Wind in the Willows, chapter XI, part 3: «Like Summer…

Ascertain the explanation proffered by the Rat for the Badger's despondent demeanour upon arrival.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, explanation · What happens: ascertain, proffer

This is exam question 2 of lesson 67 «The Wind in the Willows, chapter XI, part 3: «Like Summer Tempests Came His Tears» (loyal friends, cold pie and «Be quiet at once!»)» 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 explanation	det
3	explanation	explanation	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 proffered	nsubj
4	proffered	proffer	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	1 Ascertain	ccomp
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 Rat	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Rat	det
7	Rat	Rat	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 proffered	obl
8	for	for	ADP	_	13 demeanour	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 Badger	det
10	Badger	Badger	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 demeanour	nmod:poss
11	's	's	PART	_	10 Badger	case
12	despondent	despondent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 demeanour	amod
13	demeanour	demeanour	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 proffered	obl
14	upon	upon	ADP	_	15 arrival	case
15	arrival	arrival	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 demeanour	nmod
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here						vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	proffer	past	the explanation					by the Rat; for the Badger's despondent demeanour upon arrival goal	vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent for demeanour=Goal

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

That the Badger was often cross when he had walked far in the snow

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	3 Badger	nsubj
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 Badger	det
3	Badger	Badger	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 cross	nsubj
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 cross	cop
5	often	often	ADV	_	6 cross	advmod
6	cross	cross	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
7	when	when	SCONJ	_	10 walked	mark
8	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 walked	nsubj
9	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 walked	aux
10	walked	walk	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	6 cross	advcl
11	far	far	ADV	Degree=Pos	10 walked	advmod
12	in	in	ADP	_	14 snow	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 snow	det
14	snow	snow	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 walked	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	the Badger					cross, often property	tree rules
2	walk	past · perfect	Badger			the snow		far property	vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in snow=Trajectory

Option 2

That he was always tired after a long day

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	5 tired	nsubj
2	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 tired	nsubj
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 tired	cop
4	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	5 tired	advmod
5	tired	tired	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	after	after	ADP	_	9 day	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 day	det
8	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 day	amod
9	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 tired	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	That				day	always, tired property	tree rules

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

That the Badger was invariably low-spirited when in want of victuals

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	3 Badger	nsubj
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 Badger	det
3	Badger	Badger	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 spirited	advcl
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 spirited	aux:pass
5	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	8 spirited	advmod
6	low	low	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 spirited	compound
7	-	-	PUNCT	_	6 low	punct
8	spirited	spirit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
9	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	8 spirited	advmod
10	in	in	ADP	_	11 want	case
11	want	want	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 spirited	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 victuals	case
13	victuals	victual	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 want	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	spirit	past · passive				want of victuals		invariably property	tree rules
2	want			victuals					nom want «state transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

That the Badger was usually gloomy when he was lacking his supper

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	3 Badger	nsubj
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 Badger	det
3	Badger	Badger	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 gloomy	nsubj
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 gloomy	cop
5	usually	usually	ADV	_	6 gloomy	advmod
6	gloomy	gloomy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
7	when	when	SCONJ	_	10 lacking	mark
8	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 lacking	nsubj
9	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 lacking	aux
10	lacking	lack	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 gloomy	advcl
11	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 supper	nmod:poss
12	supper	supper	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 lacking	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	the Badger					gloomy, usually property	tree rules
2	lack	past · progressive	Badger	Badger's supper					tree rules

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/67-willows-ch11-part3-badger-and-mole-come-home/e2/