Test 13 · ★ · Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 5: The Elephant's Child…

Why is it funny that the Elephant's Child "helped to coil him up on the rock again" just after the Python spanked him?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: it, Child, Python · What happens: be, help, coil up, spank · To what, where: Child, rock

This is test 13 · ★ of lesson 79 «Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 5: The Elephant's Child, part 1 (What does the Crocodile have for dinner?)» of the books course of Mova's primary school. 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	Why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	4 funny	advmod
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 funny	cop
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 funny	nsubj
4	funny	funny	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	that	that	SCONJ	_	11 helped	mark
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Elephant	det
7	Elephant	Elephant	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 Child	nmod:poss
8	's	's	PART	_	7 Elephant	case
9	Child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 helped	nsubj
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	11 helped	punct
11	helped	help	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 funny	advcl
12	to	to	PART	_	13 coil	mark
13	coil	coil	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	11 helped	xcomp
14	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 coil	obj
15	up	up	ADP	_	13 coil	compound:prt
16	on	on	ADP	_	18 rock	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 rock	det
18	rock	rock	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 coil	obl
19	again	again	ADV	_	13 coil	advmod
20	"	"	PUNCT	_	25 spanked	punct
21	just	just	ADV	_	25 spanked	advmod
22	after	after	SCONJ	_	25 spanked	mark
23	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	24 Python	det
24	Python	Python	PROPN	Number=Sing	25 spanked	nsubj
25	spanked	spank	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	13 coil	conj
26	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	25 spanked	obj
27	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 funny	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	it				funny property	tree rules
2	help in a quote	past	the Elephant's Child					vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
3	coil up in a quote	to-infinitive	the Elephant's Child not said here	Child	the rock	again		vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: agent=Agent he=Material
4	spank	past	the Python	Child				vn spank-18.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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

He is so clumsy that he drops things on the rock

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 clumsy	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 clumsy	cop
3	so	so	ADV	_	4 clumsy	advmod
4	clumsy	clumsy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 drops	mark
6	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 drops	nsubj
7	drops	drop	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 clumsy	advcl
8	things	thing	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 drops	obj
9	on	on	ADP	_	11 rock	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 rock	det
11	rock	rock	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 drops	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	He					clumsy property	tree rules
2	drop	present	he	things		the rock			vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent thing=Theme on rock=Destination

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

He is so polite that he helps the one who hit him

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 polite	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 polite	cop
3	so	so	ADV	_	4 polite	advmod
4	polite	polite	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 helps	mark
6	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 helps	nsubj
7	helps	help	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 polite	advcl
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 one	det
9	one	one	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 helps	obj
10	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 hit	nsubj
11	hit	hit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 one	acl:relcl
12	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 hit	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	present	He		polite property	tree rules
2	help	present	he	the one		vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Beneficiary
3	hit	past	the one	him = he		vn contiguous_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme he=Co-Theme

Option 3

He is so polite that he helps the one who hit him, even though the snake has just spanked him very hard indeed

The tree, 23 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 polite	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 polite	cop
3	so	so	ADV	_	4 polite	advmod
4	polite	polite	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 helps	mark
6	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 helps	nsubj
7	helps	help	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 polite	advcl
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 one	det
9	one	one	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 helps	obj
10	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 hit	nsubj
11	hit	hit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 one	acl:relcl
12	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 hit	obj
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	20 spanked	punct
14	even	even	ADV	_	20 spanked	advmod
15	though	though	SCONJ	_	20 spanked	mark
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 snake	det
17	snake	snake	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 spanked	nsubj:pass
18	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	20 spanked	aux
19	just	just	ADV	_	20 spanked	advmod
20	spanked	spank	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 polite	conj
21	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	20 spanked	obj
22	very	very	ADV	_	23 hard	advmod
23	hard	hard	ADV	Degree=Pos	20 spanked	advmod
24	indeed	indeed	ADV	_	20 spanked	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	present	He		polite property	tree rules
2	help	present	he	the one		vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Beneficiary
3	hit	past	the one	him = he		vn contiguous_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme he=Co-Theme
4	spank	present · perfect · passive		the snake	hard, indeed property	vn spank-18.3 «NP V NP ADJP»: subject=Patient he=Result

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

He is so polite that he helps the one who hit him, and then he goes back to spank the Crocodile too

The tree, 22 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 polite	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 polite	cop
3	so	so	ADV	_	4 polite	advmod
4	polite	polite	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 helps	mark
6	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 helps	nsubj
7	helps	help	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 polite	advcl
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 one	det
9	one	one	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 helps	obj
10	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 hit	nsubj
11	hit	hit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 one	acl:relcl
12	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 hit	obj
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 goes	punct
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	17 goes	cc
15	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	17 goes	advmod
16	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	17 goes	nsubj
17	goes	go	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 polite	conj
18	back	back	ADV	_	17 goes	advmod
19	to	to	PART	_	20 spank	mark
20	spank	spank	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	17 goes	advcl
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 Crocodile	det
22	Crocodile	Crocodile	PROPN	Number=Sing	20 spank	obj
23	too	too	ADV	_	20 spank	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	He			polite property	tree rules
2	help	present	he	the one			vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Beneficiary
3	hit	past	the one	him = he			vn contiguous_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme he=Co-Theme
4	go back	present	he		then		vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Patient
5	spank	to-infinitive	he not said here	the Crocodile			vn spank-18.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent crocodile=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/79-justso-elephants-child-1/t13/