Exam question 2 · Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 5: The Elephant's Child…

Ascertain the purpose for which the Elephant's Child suspended his nose, wrapped in banana leaves, within the waters of the Limpopo.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, Child · What happens: ascertain, suspend, wrap · To what, where: purpose, nose, banana leaves

This is exam question 2 of lesson 80 «Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 5: The Elephant's Child, part 2 (the tug-of-war and the trunk)» 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 purpose	det
3	purpose	purpose	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 suspended	obl
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	10 suspended	nsubj
10	suspended	suspend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	1 Ascertain	parataxis
11	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 nose	nmod:poss
12	nose	nose	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 suspended	obj
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 wrapped	punct
14	wrapped	wrap	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 suspended	conj
15	in	in	ADP	_	17 leaves	case
16	banana	banana	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 leaves	compound
17	leaves	leaf	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 wrapped	obl
18	,	,	PUNCT	_	21 waters	punct
19	within	within	ADP	_	21 waters	case
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 waters	det
21	waters	water	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 wrapped	obl
22	of	of	ADP	_	24 Limpopo	case
23	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	24 Limpopo	det
24	Limpopo	Limpopo	PROPN	Number=Sing	21 waters	nmod
25	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the purpose			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent purpose=Topic
2	suspend	past	the Elephant's Child	Child's nose			vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nose=Theme
3	wrap	participle	the Elephant's Child not said here		banana leaves	within the waters of the Limpopo	vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme in leaf=Destination

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

To wait for it to shrink to its old size

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 wait	mark
2	wait	wait	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
3	for	for	SCONJ	_	6 shrink	mark
4	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 shrink	nsubj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 shrink	mark
6	shrink	shrink	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 wait	advcl
7	to	to	ADP	_	10 size	case
8	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 size	nmod:poss
9	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 size	amod
10	size	size	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 shrink	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	wait	to-infinitive							vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	shrink	to-infinitive	it					to its old size result	vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent to size=Result

Option 2

To let it grow even longer for the Snake

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 let	mark
2	let	let	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 let	obj
4	grow	grow	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 let	xcomp
5	even	even	ADV	_	6 longer	advmod
6	longer	long	ADV	Degree=Cmp	4 grow	advmod
7	for	for	ADP	_	9 Snake	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 Snake	det
9	Snake	snake	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 grow	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	let	to-infinitive		it					tree rules
2	grow	infinitive						for the Snake; long property	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3

To await its contraction to its former size, as the Python had instructed him to do in the river

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 await	mark
2	await	await	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 contraction	nmod:poss
4	contraction	contraction	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 await	obj
5	to	to	ADP	_	8 size	case
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 size	nmod:poss
7	former	former	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 size	amod
8	size	size	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 await	obl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 instructed	punct
10	as	as	SCONJ	_	14 instructed	mark
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 Python	det
12	Python	Python	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 instructed	nsubj:pass
13	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	14 instructed	aux
14	instructed	instruct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 await	advcl
15	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 instructed	obj
16	to	to	PART	_	17 do	mark
17	do	do	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	14 instructed	xcomp
18	in	in	ADP	_	20 river	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 river	det
20	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 do	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	await	to-infinitive		its contraction		to contraction's former size	tree rules
2	instruct speech: other	past · perfect · passive		the Python			tree rules
3	do	to-infinitive			the river		vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
4	contract		its = it				nom contraction «act transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

To await its contraction to its former size

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 await	mark
2	await	await	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 contraction	nmod:poss
4	contraction	contraction	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 await	obj
5	to	to	ADP	_	8 size	case
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 size	nmod:poss
7	former	former	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 size	amod
8	size	size	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 await	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	await	to-infinitive		its contraction				to contraction's former size	tree rules
2	contract		its = it						nom contraction «act transitive»: poss=agent

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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