Exam question 4 · Off with her head and the finest house on the river: Alice…

Ascertain the purpose of the Water Rat's question «What's a little wet to a Water Rat?», addressed to the Mole after the upsetting of the boat.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, question, Water Rat · What happens: ascertain, be, address, purpose, question · To what, where: purpose, question · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 purpose	det
3	purpose	purpose	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	9 question	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Rat	det
6	Water	Water	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 Rat	compound
7	Rat	Rat	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 question	nmod:poss
8	's	's	PART	_	7 Rat	case
9	question	question	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 purpose	nmod
10	«	«	PUNCT	_	15 wet	punct
11	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	15 wet	nsubj
12	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 wet	cop
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 little	det
14	little	little	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 wet	advmod
15	wet	wet	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 question	parataxis
16	to	to	ADP	_	19 Rat	case
17	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	19 Rat	det
18	Water	Water	PROPN	Number=Sing	19 Rat	compound
19	Rat	Rat	PROPN	Number=Sing	15 wet	obl
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	15 wet	punct
21	»	»	PUNCT	_	15 wet	punct
22	,	,	PUNCT	_	23 addressed	punct
23	addressed	address	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 question	acl
24	to	to	ADP	_	26 Mole	case
25	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	26 Mole	det
26	Mole	mole	NOUN	Number=Sing	23 addressed	obl
27	after	after	ADP	_	29 upsetting	case
28	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	29 upsetting	det
29	upsetting	upsetting	NOUN	Number=Sing	23 addressed	obl
30	of	of	ADP	_	32 boat	case
31	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	32 boat	det
32	boat	boat	NOUN	Number=Sing	29 upsetting	nmod
33	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the purpose of the Water Rat's question			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent purpose=Topic
2	is in a quote	present	the Water Rat's question			to a Water Rat; wet property	tree rules
3	address	participle		the Water Rat's question not said here	after the upsetting of the boat	to the Mole	vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	purpose		the Water Rat's question				nom purpose «cognition intransitive»: of=agent
5	question		the Water Rat				nom question «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 · ← Mova's choice

To reproach the Mole severely for his carelessness

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 reproach	mark
2	reproach	reproach	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 Mole	det
4	Mole	mole	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reproach	obj
5	severely	severely	ADV	_	2 reproach	advmod
6	for	for	ADP	_	8 carelessness	case
7	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 carelessness	nmod:poss
8	carelessness	carelessness	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reproach	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reproach	to-infinitive		the Mole				for his carelessness; severely property	vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent mole=Theme for carelessness=Attribute

Option 2

To boast of his own powers of swimming

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 boast	mark
2	boast	boast	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 powers	case
4	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 powers	nmod:poss
5	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 powers	amod
6	powers	power	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 boast	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 swimming	case
8	swimming	swimming	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 powers	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	boast speech: other	to-infinitive						of his own powers of swimming	vn complain-37.8 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

To diminish the misfortune kindly, that the Mole may be comforted

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 diminish	mark
2	diminish	diminish	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 misfortune	det
4	misfortune	misfortune	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 diminish	obj
5	kindly	kindly	ADV	_	2 diminish	advmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 comforted	punct
7	that	that	SCONJ	_	12 comforted	mark
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 Mole	det
9	Mole	mole	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 comforted	nsubj:pass
10	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	12 comforted	aux
11	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	12 comforted	aux:pass
12	comforted	comfort	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 diminish	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	diminish	to-infinitive		the misfortune				kindly property	vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer misfortune=Patient
2	comfort	may · passive		the Mole					vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer

Option 4

To complain of the coldness of the river

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 complain	mark
2	complain	complain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 coldness	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 coldness	det
5	coldness	coldness	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 complain	obl
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 river	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 river	det
8	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 coldness	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	complain speech: other	to-infinitive						of the coldness of the river	vn complain-37.8 «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/language/54-off-with-her-head-and-the-finest-house-on-the-river-alice-and-toad/e4/