Exam question 2 · Kipling's word games: «Best Beloved», the 'Stute Fish, «Hu…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the word «'Stute»?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: word

This is exam question 2 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 word	det
10	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	«	«	PUNCT	_	13 Stute	punct
12	'	'	PUNCT	_	13 Stute	punct
13	Stute	Stute	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 word	appos
14	»	»	PUNCT	_	13 Stute	punct
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the word				of the following statements; accurately property	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 the American spelling of «student»

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	5 spelling	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 spelling	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 spelling	det
4	American	American	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 spelling	amod
5	spelling	spelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 student	case
7	«	«	PUNCT	_	8 student	punct
8	student	student	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 spelling	nmod
9	»	»	PUNCT	_	5 spelling	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	the American spelling				of student	tree rules

Option 2

It is a word of the Tegumai language, signifying «a small fish of the sea»

The tree, 15 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	4 word	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 word	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 word	det
4	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 language	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 language	det
7	Tegumai	Tegumai	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 language	compound
8	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 word	nmod
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 signifying	punct
10	signifying	signify	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 word	acl
11	«	«	PUNCT	_	14 fish	punct
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 fish	det
13	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 fish	amod
14	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 signifying	obj
15	of	of	ADP	_	17 sea	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 sea	det
17	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 fish	nmod
18	»	»	PUNCT	_	14 fish	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a word				of the Tegumai language	tree rules
2	signify	gerund	a word not said here	a small fish of the sea					vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot fish=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It is a clipped form of «astute», the apostrophe marking omitted letters

The tree, 12 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	5 form	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 form	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 form	det
4	clipped	clip	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 form	amod
5	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 astute	case
7	«	«	PUNCT	_	8 astute	punct
8	astute	astute	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 form	nmod
9	»	»	PUNCT	_	8 astute	punct
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 apostrophe	punct
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 apostrophe	det
12	apostrophe	apostrophe	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 form	conj
13	marking	mark	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	12 apostrophe	acl
14	omitted	omit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	15 letters	amod
15	letters	letter	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 marking	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	clip	participle				vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient
2	is a	present	It	a clipped form and the apostrophe	of astute	tree rules
3	mark	gerund	the apostrophe not said here	omitted letters		vn image_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent letter=Destination
4	omit	participle				vn neglect-75.1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent

Option 4

It is a contraction of «it is cute»

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	4 contraction	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 contraction	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 contraction	det
4	contraction	contraction	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	of	of	SCONJ	_	9 cute	mark
6	«	«	PUNCT	_	9 cute	punct
7	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 cute	nsubj
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 cute	cop
9	cute	cute	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 contraction	acl
10	»	»	PUNCT	_	9 cute	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a contraction					tree rules
2	is in a quote	present	contraction	a contraction not said here				cute property	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/language/42-kipling-s-word-games-best-beloved-stute-fish-humph-and-the-great-grey-green-greasy-limpopo/e2/