Exam question 2 · Alice in Wonderland, chapter IV, part 1: Stuck in the Whit…

Ascertain the reason for which the protagonist consumed the contents of the unlabelled bottle.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, protagonist · What happens: ascertain, consume · To what, where: reason, contents

This is exam question 2 of lesson 7 «Alice in Wonderland, chapter IV, part 1: Stuck in the White Rabbit's house» 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 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 consumed	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 protagonist	det
7	protagonist	protagonist	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 consumed	nsubj
8	consumed	consume	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 reason	acl:relcl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 contents	det
10	contents	contents	NOUN	Number=Ptan	8 consumed	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 bottle	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 bottle	det
13	unlabelled	unlabelled	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 bottle	amod
14	bottle	bottle	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 contents	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 reason					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	consume	past	the protagonist	the contents of the unlabelled bottle				for the reason	vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent contents=Asset

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

Her expectation that something of interest would ensue, after many previous bottles and cakes had done just that

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 expectation	nmod:poss
2	expectation	expectation	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 ensue	nsubj
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	8 ensue	mark
4	something	something	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	8 ensue	nsubj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 interest	case
6	interest	interest	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 something	nmod
7	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	8 ensue	aux
8	ensue	ensue	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 done	punct
10	after	after	SCONJ	_	17 done	mark
11	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 bottles	amod
12	previous	previous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 bottles	amod
13	bottles	bottle	NOUN	Number=Plur	17 done	nsubj:pass
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 cakes	cc
15	cakes	cake	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 bottles	conj
16	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	17 done	aux
17	done	do	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 ensue	parataxis
18	just	just	ADV	_	19 that	advmod
19	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	17 done	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	ensue	would	Her expectation		vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	do	past · perfect · passive		many previous bottles and cakes	tree rules
3	expect		Her = she		nom expectation «cognition transitive»: poss=agent

Option 2

She guessed it would cure her headache soon

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 guessed	nsubj
2	guessed	guess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 cure	nsubj
4	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 cure	aux
5	cure	cure	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 guessed	ccomp
6	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 headache	nmod:poss
7	headache	headache	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 cure	obj
8	soon	soon	ADV	Degree=Pos	5 cure	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	guess	past	She						vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	cure	would	it	her headache				soon property	vn free-10.6.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Causer headache=Source

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Her expectation that something of interest would ensue

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 expectation	nmod:poss
2	expectation	expectation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	8 ensue	mark
4	something	something	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	8 ensue	nsubj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 interest	case
6	interest	interest	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 something	nmod
7	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	8 ensue	aux
8	ensue	ensue	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 expectation	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ensue	would	something	Her expectation not said here					tree rules
2	expect		Her = she						nom expectation «cognition transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

She thought the bottle was a harmless tonic

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 thought	nsubj
2	thought	think	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 bottle	det
4	bottle	bottle	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 tonic	nsubj
5	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 tonic	cop
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 tonic	det
7	harmless	harmless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 tonic	amod
8	tonic	tonic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 thought	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	think speech: other	past	She						vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	is	past	the bottle					tonic property	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.

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