Exam question 2 · The Wind in the Willows, chapter XII, part 2: The Return o…

Ascertain the cause of the stoats' conflict with the weasels, according to the Mole's report.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, stoats, Mole · What happens: ascertain, accord, cause, conflict, report · To what, where: cause, conflict

This is exam question 2 of lesson 71 «The Wind in the Willows, chapter XII, part 2: The Return of Ulysses (four Heroes, five minutes and clean sheets)» 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 cause	det
3	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	8 conflict	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 stoats	det
6	stoats	stoat	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 conflict	nmod:poss
7	'	's	PART	_	6 stoats	case
8	conflict	conflict	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 cause	nmod
9	with	with	ADP	_	11 weasels	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 weasels	det
11	weasels	weasel	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 conflict	nmod
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 report	punct
13	according	accord	VERB	ExtPos=ADP Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	18 report	case
14	to	to	ADP	_	13 according	fixed
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 Mole	det
16	Mole	mole	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 report	nmod:poss
17	's	's	PART	_	16 Mole	case
18	report	report	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 weasels	nmod
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the cause of the stoats's conflict with the weasels accord the Mole's report		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cause=Topic
2	accord	gerund				vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent
3	cause			the stoats's conflict with the weasels accord the Mole's report		nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient
4	conflict		the stoats		with the weasels accord the Mole's report	nom conflict «act intransitive»: poss=agent with=obl
5	report		the Mole			nom report «communication 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

The stoats believed themselves betrayed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 stoats	det
2	stoats	stoat	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 believed	nsubj
3	believed	believe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	themselves	themselves	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	3 believed	obj
5	betrayed	betray	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 believed	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	believe	past	the stoats	stoats = stoat					tree rules
2	betray	participle	the stoats not said here						tree rules

Option 2

Panic in the dark made the stoats believe that they had been betrayed by their allies

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Panic	panic	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 made	nsubj
2	in	in	ADP	_	4 dark	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 dark	det
4	dark	dark	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Panic	nmod
5	made	make	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 stoats	det
7	stoats	stoat	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 believe	nsubj
8	believe	believe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 made	ccomp
9	that	that	SCONJ	_	13 betrayed	mark
10	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 betrayed	nsubj
11	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	13 betrayed	aux
12	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	13 betrayed	aux:pass
13	betrayed	betray	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 made	advcl
14	by	by	ADP	_	16 allies	case
15	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	16 allies	nmod:poss
16	allies	ally	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 betrayed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	make	past	Panic in the dark		tree rules
2	believe	present	the stoats		vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer
3	betray	past · perfect · passive	stoats's allies	stoats = stoat	tree rules

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

The stoats believed themselves betrayed by the weasels after Mole's sentry trick

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 stoats	det
2	stoats	stoat	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 believed	nsubj
3	believed	believe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	themselves	themselves	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	3 believed	obj
5	betrayed	betray	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 believed	xcomp
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 weasels	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 weasels	det
8	weasels	weasel	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 betrayed	obl
9	after	after	ADP	_	13 trick	case
10	Mole	Mole	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 trick	nmod:poss
11	's	's	PART	_	10 Mole	case
12	sentry	sentry	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 trick	compound
13	trick	trick	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 betrayed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	believe	past	the stoats	stoats = stoat			tree rules
2	betray	participle	the stoats not said here		after Mole's sentry trick	by the weasels	tree rules
3	trick		Mole				nom trick «act transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

The weasels stole their food

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 weasels	det
2	weasels	weasel	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 stole	nsubj
3	stole	steal	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 food	nmod:poss
5	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 stole	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	steal	past	the weasels	weasels's food					vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location food=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.

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