Test 6 · ★★ · Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 5: The Elephant's Child…

Ahmed says: "Elephants stretched their noses a bit each day and passed it on to their babies, innit." Put him right.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: Ahmed, Elephants, you · What happens: say, stretch, pass on, put · To what, where: noses, bit, babies, Ahmed · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 6 · ★★ 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. 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

Sentence 1: Ahmed says: "Elephants stretched their noses a bit each day and passed it on to their babies, innit."

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Ahmed	Ahmed	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 says	nsubj
2	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	:	:	PUNCT	_	6 stretched	punct
4	"	"	PUNCT	_	6 stretched	punct
5	Elephants	elephant	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 stretched	nsubj
6	stretched	stretch	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 says	ccomp
7	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 noses	nmod:poss
8	noses	nose	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 stretched	obj
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 bit	det
10	bit	bit	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 stretched	obl:unmarked
11	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	12 day	det
12	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 stretched	obl:unmarked
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 passed	cc
14	passed	pass	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 stretched	conj
15	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 passed	obj
16	on	on	ADP	_	14 passed	compound:prt
17	to	to	ADP	_	19 babies	case
18	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	19 babies	nmod:poss
19	babies	baby	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 passed	obl
20	,	,	PUNCT	_	21 innit	punct
21	innit	innit	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 babies	conj
22	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 says	punct
23	"	"	PUNCT	_	2 says	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	Ahmed					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	stretch in a quote	past	Elephants	Elephants's noses		day	a bit obl:unmarked	vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent nose=Patient
3	pass on in a quote	past	Elephants not said here	bit	Elephants's babies and innit			vn send-11.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme to baby=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.

Sentence 2: Put him right.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Put	put	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	1 Put	obj
3	right	right	ADV	_	1 Put	advmod
4	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Put	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	put	imperative	you not said here		Ahmed			right property	vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent he=Goal

The options

Option 1

Trunks grew over millions of years as each generation was born, which was a slow process of natural change the Snake would never have understood

The tree, 25 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Trunks	trunk	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 grew	nsubj
2	grew	grow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	over	over	ADP	_	4 millions	case
4	millions	million	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 grew	obl
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 years	case
6	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 millions	nmod
7	as	as	SCONJ	_	11 born	mark
8	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	9 generation	det
9	generation	generation	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 born	nsubj:pass
10	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	11 born	aux:pass
11	born	bear	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 grew	advcl
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 process	punct
13	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	17 process	nsubj
14	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	17 process	cop
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 process	det
16	slow	slow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 process	amod
17	process	process	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 born	parataxis
18	of	of	ADP	_	20 change	case
19	natural	natural	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 change	amod
20	change	change	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 process	nmod
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 Snake	det
22	Snake	snake	NOUN	Number=Sing	26 understood	nsubj:pass
23	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	26 understood	aux
24	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	26 understood	advmod
25	have	have	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	26 understood	aux
26	understood	understand	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	20 change	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	grow	past	Trunks		millions of years		vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over million=Location
2	bear	past · passive		each generation			vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient
3	is a	past		a slow process		of natural change	tree rules
4	not understand	would · perfect · passive	natural change not said here	the Snake			vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Trunks grew over millions of years as each generation was born

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Trunks	trunk	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 grew	nsubj
2	grew	grow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	over	over	ADP	_	4 millions	case
4	millions	million	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 grew	obl
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 years	case
6	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 millions	nmod
7	as	as	SCONJ	_	11 born	mark
8	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	9 generation	det
9	generation	generation	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 born	nsubj:pass
10	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	11 born	aux:pass
11	born	bear	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 grew	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	grow	past	Trunks			millions of years			vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over million=Location
2	bear	past · passive		each generation					vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient

Option 3

Trunks grew over millions of years as each generation of elephants was born with a slightly longer nose

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Trunks	trunk	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 grew	nsubj
2	grew	grow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	over	over	ADP	_	4 millions	case
4	millions	million	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 grew	obl
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 years	case
6	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 millions	nmod
7	as	as	SCONJ	_	13 born	mark
8	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	9 generation	det
9	generation	generation	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 born	nsubj:pass
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 elephants	case
11	elephants	elephant	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 generation	nmod
12	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	13 born	aux:pass
13	born	bear	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 grew	advcl
14	with	with	ADP	_	18 nose	case
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	18 nose	det
16	slightly	slightly	ADV	_	17 longer	advmod
17	longer	long	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	18 nose	amod
18	nose	nose	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 born	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	grow	past	Trunks			millions of years			vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over million=Location
2	bear	past · passive		each generation of elephants				with a longer nose	vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient

Option 4

Parents stretched their noses in one lifetime

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Parents	parent	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 stretched	nsubj
2	stretched	stretch	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 noses	nmod:poss
4	noses	nose	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 stretched	obj
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 lifetime	case
6	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	7 lifetime	nummod
7	lifetime	lifetime	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 stretched	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	stretch	past	Parents	Parents's noses				in one lifetime	vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient PP.theme»: agent=Agent nose=Patient in lifetime=Topic

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/80-justso-elephants-child-2/t6/