Exam question 1 · Kipling's word games: «Best Beloved», the 'Stute Fish, «Hu…

Identify the device employed in the phrase «the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River».

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, employ · To what, where: device, phrase

This is exam question 1 of lesson 42 «Kipling's word games: «Best Beloved», the 'Stute Fish, «Humph!» and the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo» of the language 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 device	det
3	device	device	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 device	acl
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 phrase	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 phrase	det
7	phrase	phrase	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 employed	obl
8	«	«	PUNCT	_	17 River	punct
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 River	det
10	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 River	amod
11	grey	grey	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 green	compound
12	-	-	PUNCT	_	11 grey	punct
13	green	green	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 great	conj
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 River	punct
15	greasy	greasy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 River	amod
16	Limpopo	Limpopo	PROPN	Number=Sing	17 River	compound
17	River	River	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 phrase	appos
18	»	»	PUNCT	_	17 River	punct
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the device					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent device=Theme
2	employ	participle		the device not said here		the phrase			vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: 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 · ✓ the right answer

Alliteration, the repetition of an initial sound in neighbouring words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Alliteration	alliteration	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 repetition	punct
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 repetition	det
4	repetition	repetition	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Alliteration	appos
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 sound	case
6	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 sound	det
7	initial	initial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 sound	amod
8	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 repetition	nmod
9	in	in	ADP	_	11 words	case
10	neighbouring	neighbour	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	11 words	amod
11	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 sound	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	neighbour	gerund							tree rules
2	repeat		a initial sound in neighbouring words						nom repetition «event intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

A pun, the exploitation of words of similar sound

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 pun	det
2	pun	pun	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 exploitation	punct
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 exploitation	det
5	exploitation	exploitation	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 pun	appos
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 words	case
7	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 exploitation	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 sound	case
9	similar	similar	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 sound	amod
10	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 words	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exploit			words of similar sound					nom exploitation «act transitive»: of=patient
2	word			similar sound					nom word «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

Onomatopoeia, the imitation of a sound by a word

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Onomatopoeia	onomatopoeia	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 imitation	punct
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 imitation	det
4	imitation	imitation	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Onomatopoeia	appos
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 sound	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 sound	det
7	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 imitation	nmod
8	by	by	ADP	_	10 word	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 word	det
10	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Onomatopoeia	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	imitate			a sound					nom imitation «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

A refrain, the repetition of an entire line

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 refrain	det
2	refrain	refrain	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 repetition	punct
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 repetition	det
5	repetition	repetition	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 refrain	appos
6	of	of	ADP	_	9 line	case
7	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 line	det
8	entire	entire	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 line	amod
9	line	line	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 repetition	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	repeat		a entire line						nom repetition «event intransitive»: of=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/language/42-kipling-s-word-games-best-beloved-stute-fish-humph-and-the-great-grey-green-greasy-limpopo/e1/