Exam question 2 · Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 6: The Sing-Song of Old…

Ascertain the circumstance which first compelled the Kangaroo to proceed upon his hind legs alone.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, circumstance · What happens: ascertain, compel, proceed · To what, where: circumstance, Kangaroo

This is exam question 2 of lesson 81 «Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 6: The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo» 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 circumstance	det
3	circumstance	circumstance	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 compelled	nsubj
5	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	6 compelled	advmod
6	compelled	compel	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 circumstance	acl:relcl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Kangaroo	det
8	Kangaroo	Kangaroo	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 compelled	obj
9	to	to	PART	_	10 proceed	mark
10	proceed	proceed	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 compelled	xcomp
11	upon	upon	ADP	_	14 legs	case
12	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 legs	nmod:poss
13	hind	hind	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 legs	amod
14	legs	leg	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 proceed	obl
15	alone	alone	ADV	_	10 proceed	advmod
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the circumstance		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent circumstance=Topic
2	compel	past	the circumstance	the Kangaroo	first property	vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent kangaroo=Patient clause=Result
3	proceed	to-infinitive	the circumstance not said here		upon Kangaroo's hind legs; alone property	vn begin-55.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=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

A dog that bit him on the back legs at dusk

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 dog	det
2	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 bit	nsubj
4	bit	bite	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 dog	acl:relcl
5	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 bit	obj
6	on	on	ADP	_	9 legs	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 legs	det
8	back	back	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 legs	compound
9	legs	leg	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 bit	obl
10	at	at	ADP	_	11 dusk	case
11	dusk	dusk	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 bit	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bite	past	a dog	dog		the back legs	dusk		vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent he=Patient on leg=Location

Option 2

Nqong's wish that he should hop across the Wollgong River

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Nqong	Nqong	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 wish	nmod:poss
2	's	's	PART	_	1 Nqong	case
3	wish	wish	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 hop	mark
5	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 hop	nsubj
6	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	7 hop	aux
7	hop	hop	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 wish	acl
8	across	across	ADP	_	11 River	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 River	det
10	Wollgong	Wollgong	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 River	compound
11	River	River	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 hop	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hop	should	Nqong	Nqong's wish not said here		the Wollgong River			vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme wish=Trajectory
2	wish		Nqong						nom wish «feeling intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 3

The river was too deep and wide for any animal to cross, so he had to hop along the bank forever

The tree, 21 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 river	det
2	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 deep	nsubj
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 deep	cop
4	too	too	ADV	_	5 deep	advmod
5	deep	deep	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 wide	cc
7	wide	wide	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 deep	conj
8	for	for	SCONJ	_	12 cross	mark
9	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	10 animal	det
10	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 cross	nsubj
11	to	to	PART	_	12 cross	mark
12	cross	cross	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 wide	advcl
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 had	punct
14	so	so	ADV	_	16 had	advmod
15	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	16 had	nsubj
16	had	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 deep	parataxis
17	to	to	PART	_	18 hop	mark
18	hop	hop	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	16 had	xcomp
19	along	along	ADP	_	21 bank	case
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 bank	det
21	bank	bank	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 hop	obl
22	forever	forever	ADV	_	18 hop	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	other	roles by
1	is	past	the river		deep property	tree rules
2	be		the river not said here			tree rules
3	cross	to-infinitive	any animal			vn contiguous_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
4	have	past	animal			tree rules
5	hop	to-infinitive	animal not said here	the bank	forever property	vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme along bank=Trajectory

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The absence of any bridge or ferry across the Wollgong River

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 absence	det
2	absence	absence	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 bridge	case
4	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	5 bridge	det
5	bridge	bridge	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 absence	nmod
6	or	or	CCONJ	_	7 ferry	cc
7	ferry	ferry	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 bridge	conj
8	across	across	ADP	_	11 River	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 River	det
10	Wollgong	Wollgong	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 River	compound
11	River	River	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 absence	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	absent			any bridge or ferry		the Wollgong River			nom absence «state transitive»: of=patient across=place

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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