Exam question 2 · Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 4: How the Leopard got…

Ascertain the principal deficiency which, in the hunter's own estimation, impeded the success of both hunters in the forest.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, own estimation, hunter · What happens: ascertain, impede, estimate · To what, where: principal deficiency, forest

This is exam question 2 of lesson 78 «Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 4: How the Leopard got his Spots, part 2 (One, two, three, and where's your breakfast?)» 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	4 deficiency	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 deficiency	amod
4	deficiency	deficiency	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	14 impeded	obj
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 estimation	punct
7	in	in	ADP	_	12 estimation	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 hunter	det
9	hunter	hunter	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 estimation	nmod:poss
10	's	's	PART	_	9 hunter	case
11	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 estimation	amod
12	estimation	estimation	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 impeded	nsubj
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 estimation	punct
14	impeded	impede	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 deficiency	acl:relcl
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 success	det
16	success	success	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 impeded	obj
17	of	of	ADP	_	19 hunters	case
18	both	both	DET	PronType=Tot	19 hunters	det
19	hunters	hunter	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 success	nmod
20	in	in	ADP	_	22 forest	case
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 forest	det
22	forest	forest	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 impeded	obl
23	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the principal deficiency		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent deficiency=Topic
2	impede	past	the hunter's own estimation	the principal deficiency	the forest	tree rules
3	estimate		the hunter			nom estimation «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 · ← Mova's choice

Their skins had the wrong stripes and blotches for the hot and bright and very open High Veldt

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 skins	nmod:poss
2	skins	skin	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 had	nsubj
3	had	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 stripes	det
5	wrong	wrong	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 stripes	amod
6	stripes	stripe	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 had	obj
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 blotches	cc
8	blotches	blotch	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 stripes	conj
9	for	for	ADP	_	18 Veldt	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 Veldt	det
11	hot	hot	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 Veldt	amod
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 bright	cc
13	bright	bright	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 hot	conj
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 open	cc
15	very	very	ADV	_	16 open	advmod
16	open	open	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 hot	conj
17	High	high	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 Veldt	amod
18	Veldt	Veldt	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 had	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	have	past	Their skins	the wrong stripes and blotches				for the hot High Veldt	vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stripe=Patient

Option 2

They were not clever enough at all

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 clever	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 clever	cop
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 clever	advmod
4	clever	clever	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	enough	enough	ADV	_	4 clever	advmod
6	at	at	ADP	_	7 all	case
7	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	4 clever	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not is	past	They			all		clever, enough property	tree rules

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

They did not match their backgrounds

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 match	nsubj
2	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 match	aux
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 match	advmod
4	match	match	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 backgrounds	nmod:poss
6	backgrounds	background	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 match	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not match	past · do-support	They	their backgrounds					vn amalgamate-22.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent background=Patient

Option 4

The forest was far too dark for them

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 forest	det
2	forest	forest	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 dark	nsubj
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 dark	cop
4	far	far	ADV	Degree=Pos	6 dark	advmod
5	too	too	ADV	_	6 dark	advmod
6	dark	dark	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
7	for	for	ADP	_	8 them	case
8	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 dark	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	the forest					for them = they; dark, far 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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