Exam question 3 · Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 6: The Sing-Song of Old…

Select the response that most accurately characterises the double meaning upon which the narrative turns.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, most, narrative · What happens: select, characteris, turn · To what, where: response, double meaning

This is exam question 3 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 characterises	mark
5	most	most	ADJ	Degree=Sup	7 characterises	nsubj
6	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	5 most	advmod
7	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Select	advcl
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 meaning	det
9	double	double	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 meaning	amod
10	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 characterises	obj
11	upon	upon	ADP	_	12 which	case
12	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	15 turns	obl
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 narrative	det
14	narrative	narrative	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 turns	nsubj
15	turns	turn	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 meaning	acl:relcl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response		vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	characteris	present	most	the double meaning		tree rules
3	turn	present	the narrative		the double meaning	vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme upon which=Trajectory

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

It refers to the chase, the Dingo's teeth, and the Kangaroo's shape as a sort of joke about running

The tree, 21 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 refers	nsubj
2	refers	refer	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	ADP	_	5 chase	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 chase	det
5	chase	chase	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 refers	obl
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 teeth	punct
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Dingo	det
8	Dingo	Dingo	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 teeth	nmod:poss
9	's	's	PART	_	8 Dingo	case
10	teeth	tooth	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 chase	conj
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 shape	punct
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 shape	cc
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 Kangaroo	det
14	Kangaroo	Kangaroo	PROPN	Number=Sing	16 shape	nmod:poss
15	's	's	PART	_	14 Kangaroo	case
16	shape	shape	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 refers	parataxis
17	as	as	ADP	_	19 sort	case
18	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	19 sort	det
19	sort	sort	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 refers	obl
20	of	of	ADP	_	21 joke	case
21	joke	joke	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 sort	nmod
22	about	about	SCONJ	_	23 running	mark
23	running	run	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	21 joke	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	refer	present	It		to the chase and the Dingo's teeth; as a sort of joke	vn relate-86.2-2 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme to chase=Co-Theme
2	run	gerund	joke not said here			vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	sort			joke		nom sort «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

It signifies that the race was held in a bush-land park

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 signifies	nsubj
2	signifies	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 held	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 race	det
5	race	race	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 held	nsubj:pass
6	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 held	aux:pass
7	held	hold	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 signifies	advcl
8	in	in	ADP	_	13 park	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 park	det
10	bush	bush	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 land	compound
11	-	-	PUNCT	_	10 bush	punct
12	land	land	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 park	compound
13	park	park	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 held	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signify	present	It						vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot
2	hold	past · passive		the race		a land park			vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme in park=Location

Option 3

It means both "famous" and "escaped" only

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 means	nsubj
2	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	both	both	CCONJ	_	5 famous	cc:preconj
4	"	"	PUNCT	_	5 famous	punct
5	famous	famous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 means	ccomp
6	"	"	PUNCT	_	5 famous	punct
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 escaped	cc
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 escaped	punct
9	escaped	escape	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 means	conj
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 escaped	punct
11	only	only	ADV	_	9 escaped	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mean	present	It						vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
2	escape in a quote	past							vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

"Run after" signifies both popularity and literal pursuit

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	"	"	PUNCT	_	2 Run	punct
2	Run	run	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	5 signifies	parataxis
3	after	after	ADP	_	2 Run	compound:prt
4	"	"	PUNCT	_	2 Run	punct
5	signifies	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	both	both	DET	PronType=Tot	7 popularity	det
7	popularity	popularity	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 signifies	obj
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 pursuit	cc
9	literal	literal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 pursuit	amod
10	pursuit	pursuit	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 popularity	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	run after in a quote	infinitive							vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	signify	present		both popularity and literal pursuit					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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/81-justso-old-man-kangaroo/e3/