Test 8 · ★★ · Alice in Wonderland, chapter V, part 1: Advice from a Cate…

Mia from Melbourne: "Alice was heaps polite but the Caterpillar was a total drongo." ("heaps" = very, "drongo" = a fool or rude person.) Which shows Alice was polite?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Mia, Caterpillar, Alice · What happens: be, show · To what, where: total drongo · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 8 · ★★ 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

Sentence 1: Mia from Melbourne: "Alice was heaps polite but the Caterpillar was a total drongo."

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Mia	Mia	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 polite	nsubj
2	from	from	ADP	_	3 Melbourne	case
3	Melbourne	Melbourne	PROPN	Number=Sing	1 Mia	nmod
4	:	:	PUNCT	_	9 polite	punct
5	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 polite	punct
6	Alice	Alice	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 polite	nsubj
7	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 polite	cop
8	heaps	heap	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 polite	nsubj
9	polite	polite	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
10	but	but	CCONJ	_	16 drongo	cc
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 Caterpillar	det
12	Caterpillar	Caterpillar	PROPN	Number=Sing	16 drongo	nsubj
13	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	16 drongo	cop
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 drongo	det
15	total	total	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 drongo	amod
16	drongo	drongo	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 polite	conj
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	9 polite	punct
18	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 polite	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is in a quote	past	Mia from Melbourne					polite property	tree rules
2	is a in a quote	past	the Caterpillar	a total drongo					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.

Sentence 2: ("heaps" = very, "drongo" = a fool or rude person.)

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	(	(	PUNCT	_	3 heaps	punct
2	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 heaps	punct
3	heaps	heap	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 heaps	punct
5	=	=	SYM	_	9 drongo	punct
6	very	very	ADV	_	9 drongo	advmod
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 drongo	punct
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 drongo	punct
9	drongo	drongo	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 heaps	conj
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 drongo	punct
11	=	=	SYM	_	13 fool	punct
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 fool	det
13	fool	fool	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 drongo	appos
14	or	or	CCONJ	_	16 person	cc
15	rude	rude	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 person	amod
16	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 fool	conj
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	13 fool	punct
18	)	)	PUNCT	_	3 heaps	punct

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Sentence 3: Which shows Alice was polite?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	2 shows	nsubj
2	shows	show	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	Alice	Alice	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 polite	nsubj
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 polite	cop
5	polite	polite	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 shows	ccomp
6	?	?	PUNCT	_	2 shows	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	show	present							vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	is	past	Alice					polite property	tree rules

The options

Option 1

She kept calm and tried to be helpful always

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 kept	nsubj
2	kept	keep	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	calm	calm	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 kept	xcomp
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 tried	cc
5	tried	try	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 kept	conj
6	to	to	PART	_	8 helpful	mark
7	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	8 helpful	cop
8	helpful	helpful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 tried	xcomp
9	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	2 kept	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	keep	past	She	always, calm property	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	try	past	She not said here		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer
3	is not said to happen	to-infinitive	She not said here	helpful property	tree rules

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

She called it "sir" and kept answering kindly even when it was very rude to her

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 called	nsubj
2	called	call	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 called	obj
4	"	"	PUNCT	_	5 sir	punct
5	sir	sir	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 called	xcomp
6	"	"	PUNCT	_	5 sir	punct
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 kept	cc
8	kept	keep	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 called	conj
9	answering	answer	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 kept	xcomp
10	kindly	kindly	ADV	_	9 answering	advmod
11	even	even	ADV	_	16 rude	advmod
12	when	when	SCONJ	_	16 rude	mark
13	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	16 rude	nsubj
14	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	16 rude	cop
15	very	very	ADV	_	16 rude	advmod
16	rude	rude	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 answering	advcl
17	to	to	ADP	_	18 her	case
18	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	16 rude	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	other	roles by
1	call	past	She	it			vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent it=Recipient
2	keep	past	She not said here				tree rules
3	answer speech: assert	gerund	She not said here			kindly property	vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
4	is	past	it		her = she	rude property	tree rules

Option 3

She asked questions without being rude once

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 asked	nsubj
2	asked	ask	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	questions	question	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 asked	obj
4	without	without	SCONJ	_	6 rude	mark
5	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 rude	cop
6	rude	rude	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 asked	ccomp
7	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	2 asked	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ask speech: ask	past	She	questions				once property	vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent question=Recipient
2	is	gerund						rude property	tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

She called it "sir" and kept answering kindly

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 called	nsubj
2	called	call	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 called	obj
4	"	"	PUNCT	_	5 sir	punct
5	sir	sir	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 called	xcomp
6	"	"	PUNCT	_	5 sir	punct
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 kept	cc
8	kept	keep	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 called	conj
9	answering	answer	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 kept	xcomp
10	kindly	kindly	ADV	_	9 answering	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	call	past	She	it		vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent it=Recipient
2	keep	past	She not said here			tree rules
3	answer speech: assert	gerund	She not said here		kindly property	vn reciprocate-112-1 «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.

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