Exam question 4 · The Wind in the Willows, chapter XII, part 3: The Return o…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the Badger's justification for the said prohibition?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Badger · What happens: follow, characteris, say, justify · To what, where: justification · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 4 of lesson 72 «The Wind in the Willows, chapter XII, part 3: The Return of Ulysses (the invitations, «SPEECH BY TOAD» and «not one little song»)» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 Badger	det
10	Badger	Badger	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 justification	nmod:poss
11	's	's	PART	_	10 Badger	case
12	justification	justification	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
13	for	for	ADP	_	16 prohibition	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 prohibition	det
15	said	say	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	16 prohibition	amod
16	prohibition	prohibition	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 justification	nmod
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the Badger's justification	of the following statements; for the said prohibition; accurately property	tree rules
3	say speech: assert	participle				vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
4	justify		the Badger		for the said prohibition	nom justification «cognition transitive»: poss=agent for=obl

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 Toad should be liked by all the animals

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	2 Toad	det
2	Toad	Toad	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 liked	nsubj:pass
3	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 liked	aux
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 liked	aux:pass
5	liked	like	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	by	by	ADP	_	9 animals	case
7	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	9 animals	det:predet
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 animals	det
9	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 liked	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	like	should · passive	all animals	that Toad					vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot subject=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

That Toad must be respected, not a laughing-stock

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	2 Toad	det
2	Toad	Toad	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 respected	nsubj
3	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 respected	aux
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 respected	aux:pass
5	respected	respect	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 stock	punct
7	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	11 stock	advmod
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 stock	det
9	laughing	laughing	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 stock	compound
10	-	-	PUNCT	_	9 laughing	punct
11	stock	stock	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 respected	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	respect	must · passive		that Toad				a laughing stock obl	vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

That Toad had to be respected because he was the Chief Weasel's friend and ally

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	2 Toad	det
2	Toad	Toad	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 had	nsubj
3	had	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	6 respected	mark
5	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 respected	aux:pass
6	respected	respect	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 had	xcomp
7	because	because	SCONJ	_	14 friend	mark
8	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 friend	nsubj
9	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	14 friend	cop
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 Weasel	det
11	Chief	Chief	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 Weasel	compound
12	Weasel	Weasel	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 friend	nmod:poss
13	's	's	PART	_	12 Weasel	case
14	friend	friend	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 respected	advcl
15	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 ally	cc
16	ally	ally	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 friend	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	have	past	that Toad		tree rules
2	respect	to-infinitive · passive	that Toad not said here		vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»
3	is a	past	Toad	the Chief Weasel's friend and ally	tree rules

Option 4

That Toad needs to stop boasting and be sensible

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	2 Toad	det
2	Toad	Toad	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 needs	nsubj
3	needs	need	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 stop	mark
5	stop	stop	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 needs	xcomp
6	boasting	boast	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 stop	xcomp
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 sensible	cc
8	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	9 sensible	cop
9	sensible	sensible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 stop	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	need	present	that Toad		vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme
2	stop not said to happen	to-infinitive	that Toad not said here		vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality
3	boast speech: other	gerund	that Toad not said here		vn complain-37.8 «NP V»: agent=Agent
4	is	infinitive	that Toad not said here	sensible 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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/72-willows-ch12-part3-no-speeches-and-no-songs/e4/