Exam question 2 · Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 1: How the Whale got hi…

Ascertain the means by which the shipwrecked Mariner secured the grating within the throat of the Whale.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, the, shipwrecked Mariner · What happens: ascertain, mean, shipwreck, secure · To what, where: grating · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 2 of lesson 74 «Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 1: How the Whale got his Throat» 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 means	nsubj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Ascertain	ccomp
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 secured	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Mariner	det
7	shipwrecked	shipwreck	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 Mariner	amod
8	Mariner	Mariner	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 secured	nsubj
9	secured	secure	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 means	ccomp
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 grating	det
11	grating	grating	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 secured	obj
12	within	within	ADP	_	14 throat	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 throat	det
14	throat	throat	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 secured	obl
15	of	of	ADP	_	17 Whale	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 Whale	det
17	Whale	whale	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 throat	nmod
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here			vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	mean	present	the			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	shipwreck	participle				vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	secure	past	the shipwrecked Mariner	the grating	within the throat of the Whale	vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition grating=Theme

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 · ✓ the right answer

By binding it with his suspenders

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 binding	mark
2	binding	bind	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 binding	obj
4	with	with	ADP	_	6 suspenders	case
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 suspenders	nmod:poss
6	suspenders	suspender	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 binding	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bind	gerund		it				with his suspenders	vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent it=Patient with suspender=Co-Patient

Option 2

With rope

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	With	with	ADP	_	2 rope	case
2	rope	rope	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 3

By tying it with his breeches

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 tying	mark
2	tying	tie	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 tying	obj
4	with	with	ADP	_	6 breeches	case
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 breeches	nmod:poss
6	breeches	breech	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 tying	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tie	gerund		it				with his breeches	vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent it=Patient with breech=Co-Patient

Option 4

By knotting

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 knotting	mark
2	knotting	knot	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	knot	gerund							vn tape-22.4 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient

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/74-justso-whale-throat/e2/