Test 3 · ★★ · Alice in Wonderland, chapter V, part 1: Advice from a Cate…

Why is "I can't explain myself, because I'm not myself" a clever joke?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: I · What happens: not be · To what, where: clever joke · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 3 · ★★ of lesson 9 «Alice in Wonderland, chapter V, part 1: Advice from a Caterpillar» 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	7 explain	advmod
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 explain	cop
3	"	"	PUNCT	_	7 explain	punct
4	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	7 explain	nsubj
5	ca	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	7 explain	aux
6	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	7 explain	advmod
7	explain	explain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
8	myself	myself	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	7 explain	obj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 joke	punct
10	because	because	SCONJ	_	18 joke	mark
11	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	18 joke	nsubj
12	'm	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	18 joke	cop
13	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	18 joke	advmod
14	myself	myself	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	18 joke	nsubj
15	"	"	PUNCT	_	18 joke	punct
16	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	18 joke	det
17	clever	clever	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 joke	amod
18	joke	joke	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 explain	parataxis
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 explain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not is in a quote	can · present	I					explain property	tree rules
2	not be speech: other	present		a clever joke					tree rules

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 is clever because the Caterpillar is rude and Alice is polite, which makes the joke work well in the story

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	3 clever	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 clever	cop
3	clever	clever	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	because	because	SCONJ	_	8 rude	mark
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Caterpillar	det
6	Caterpillar	Caterpillar	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 rude	nsubj
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 rude	cop
8	rude	rude	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 clever	advcl
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 polite	cc
10	Alice	Alice	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 polite	nsubj
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 polite	cop
12	polite	polite	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 clever	conj
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 makes	punct
14	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	15 makes	nsubj
15	makes	make	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	18 work	advcl
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 joke	det
17	joke	joke	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 makes	obj
18	work	work	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 clever	parataxis
19	well	well	ADV	Degree=Pos	18 work	advmod
20	in	in	ADP	_	22 story	case
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 story	det
22	story	story	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 work	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	present	It		clever property	tree rules
2	is	present	the Caterpillar		rude property	tree rules
3	is	present	Alice		polite property	tree rules
4	make	present		the joke		vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset joke=Product
5	work	present			in the story; well property	vn employment-95.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in story=Theme

Option 2

It plays on "not myself" as ill, but she has only grown wiser

The tree, 13 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 plays	nsubj
2	plays	play	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	on	on	ADP	_	6 myself	case
4	"	"	PUNCT	_	6 myself	punct
5	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	6 myself	advmod
6	myself	myself	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	2 plays	obl
7	"	"	PUNCT	_	6 myself	punct
8	as	as	ADP	_	9 ill	case
9	ill	ill	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 plays	obl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 grown	punct
11	but	but	CCONJ	_	15 grown	cc
12	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 grown	nsubj
13	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 grown	aux
14	only	only	ADV	_	15 grown	advmod
15	grown	grow	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	2 plays	conj
16	wiser	wise	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	2 plays	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	play	present	It					on myself; as ill	vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	grow	present · perfect	she						vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3

It rhymes, so it sounds clever, though it means very little really

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 rhymes	nsubj
2	rhymes	rhyme	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 sounds	punct
4	so	so	ADV	_	6 sounds	advmod
5	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 sounds	nsubj
6	sounds	sound	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 rhymes	advcl
7	clever	clever	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 sounds	xcomp
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 means	punct
9	though	though	SCONJ	_	11 means	mark
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 means	nsubj
11	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 rhymes	parataxis
12	very	very	ADV	_	13 little	advmod
13	little	little	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 means	obj
14	really	really	ADV	_	2 rhymes	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	rhyme	present	It			vn amalgamate-22.2-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	sound	present	it		clever property	vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus
3	mean	present	it	little		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent little=Topic

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

"Not myself" means feeling odd, but Alice has truly changed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 myself	punct
2	Not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	3 myself	advmod
3	myself	myself	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	5 means	nsubj
4	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 myself	punct
5	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	feeling	feel	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 means	xcomp
7	odd	odd	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 feeling	xcomp
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 changed	punct
9	but	but	CCONJ	_	13 changed	cc
10	Alice	Alice	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 changed	nsubj
11	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 changed	aux
12	truly	truly	ADV	_	13 changed	advmod
13	changed	change	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	5 means	parataxis

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	mean	present	myself		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	feel not said to happen	gerund	myself not said here	odd property	vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus
3	change	present · perfect	Alice	truly property	vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/9-alice-ch5-part1-advice-from-a-caterpillar/t3/