Exam question 2 · Off with her head and the finest house on the river: Alice…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises Toad's assertion that Toad Hall is the «Finest house on the whole river»?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: assertion, Toad · What happens: follow, characteris, be, assert · To what, where: Finest house, whole river · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 2 of lesson 54 «Off with her head and the finest house on the river: Alice and Toad» 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	Toad	Toad	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 assertion	nmod:poss
10	's	's	PART	_	9 Toad	case
11	assertion	assertion	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 house	nsubj
12	that	that	SCONJ	_	14 Hall	mark
13	Toad	Toad	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 Hall	compound
14	Hall	Hall	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 assertion	appos
15	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	19 house	cop
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 house	det
17	«	«	PUNCT	_	19 house	punct
18	Finest	fine	ADJ	Degree=Sup	19 house	amod
19	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	ccomp
20	on	on	ADP	_	23 river	case
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	23 river	det
22	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	23 river	amod
23	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 house	nmod
24	»	»	PUNCT	_	19 house	punct
25	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund					vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	is a in a quote	present	Toad's assertion	the Finest house	the whole river		tree rules
4	assert		Toad				nom assertion «communication transitive»: poss=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

A measured comparison of the houses on the river

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 comparison	det
2	measured	measure	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 comparison	amod
3	comparison	comparison	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 houses	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 houses	det
6	houses	house	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 comparison	nmod
7	on	on	ADP	_	9 river	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 river	det
9	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 houses	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	measure	participle							vn register-54.1-2-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme
2	compare			the houses on the river					nom comparison «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

A sarcastic criticism of his own house

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 criticism	det
2	sarcastic	sarcastic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 criticism	amod
3	criticism	criticism	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 house	case
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 house	nmod:poss
6	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 house	amod
7	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 criticism	nmod

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

Option 3

An instance of polite understatement

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 instance	det
2	instance	instance	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 understatement	case
4	polite	polite	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 understatement	amod
5	understatement	understatement	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 instance	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	instance			polite understatement					nom instance «event transitive»: of=patient

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

A boast consistent with his habitual vanity

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 boast	det
2	boast	boast	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 consistent	nsubj
3	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	with	with	ADP	_	7 vanity	case
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 vanity	nmod:poss
6	habitual	habitual	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 vanity	compound
7	vanity	vanity	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 consistent	obl

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

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/54-off-with-her-head-and-the-finest-house-on-the-river-alice-and-toad/e2/