Exam question 2 · Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 3: How the Rhinoceros g…

Ascertain the substance introduced by the Parsee into the skin of the Rhinoceros.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, introduce · To what, where: substance, skin

This is exam question 2 of lesson 76 «Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 3: How the Rhinoceros got his Skin» 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 substance	det
3	substance	substance	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	introduced	introduce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 substance	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 Parsee	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Parsee	det
7	Parsee	Parsee	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 introduced	obl
8	into	into	ADP	_	10 skin	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 skin	det
10	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 introduced	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 Rhinoceros	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 Rhinoceros	det
13	Rhinoceros	Rhinoceros	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 skin	nmod
14	.	.	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 substance					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent substance=Topic
2	introduce	participle		the substance not said here		the skin of the Rhinoceros		by the Parsee	vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient

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

Fresh cream and sweet berries

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Fresh	fresh	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 cream	amod
2	cream	cream	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 berries	cc
4	sweet	sweet	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 berries	amod
5	berries	berry	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 cream	conj

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

Option 2

Hot sand, sharp stones, fresh cream, and a few very burned currants

The tree, 12 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Hot	hot	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 sand	amod
2	sand	sand	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 stones	punct
4	sharp	sharp	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 stones	amod
5	stones	stone	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 sand	conj
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 cream	punct
7	fresh	fresh	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 cream	amod
8	cream	cream	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 sand	conj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 currants	punct
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 currants	cc
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 few	det
12	few	few	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 currants	amod
13	very	very	ADV	_	14 burned	advmod
14	burned	burn	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	15 currants	amod
15	currants	currant	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 sand	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	burn	participle							vn light_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Stale cake-crumbs and burned currants

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Stale	stale	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 crumbs	amod
2	cake	cake	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 crumbs	compound
3	-	-	PUNCT	_	2 cake	punct
4	crumbs	crumb	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 burned	nsubj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	4 crumbs	cc
6	burned	burn	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	currants	currant	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 burned	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	burn	past	Stale cake crumbs	currants					vn light_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent currant=Theme

Option 4

Stale cake-crumbs, burned currants and some old sticks from the palm

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Stale	stale	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 crumbs	amod
2	cake	cake	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 crumbs	compound
3	-	-	PUNCT	_	2 cake	punct
4	crumbs	crumb	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 burned	nsubj
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 crumbs	punct
6	burned	burn	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	currants	currant	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 burned	obj
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 sticks	cc
9	some	some	DET	PronType=Ind	11 sticks	det
10	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 sticks	amod
11	sticks	stick	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 currants	conj
12	from	from	ADP	_	14 palm	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 palm	det
14	palm	palm	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 burned	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	burn	past	Stale cake crumbs	currants and some old sticks		the palm			vn light_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent currant=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/76-justso-rhinoceros-skin/e2/