Alice in Wonderland, chapter VIII, part 2: The Queen's Croquet-Ground (a head without a body)

Tests: 9 of 19 right · Exam: 0 of 4 right · Kind: ★★ · Understood: 20 of 23 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 16 of the books course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.

Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.

Test 1 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Jake: «Alice was bostin' at croquet, won easy.» (bostin' = great, Black Country) Put it right.

1. She thought it was easy and won every round at once — no support
2. She found it «a very difficult game indeed» and never really got to play — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. She found it hard and quit early — ← Mova's choice · score 1
4. She won easily — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 1, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 10, line 6: «Alice looks at the mushroom and, "as it was perfectly round", finds it hard to work out which are its two sides.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «find» (+2); the same property (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1); a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★★ · right ✓

Why can the soldiers not stay as arches?

1. They have to get up and take the people the Queen sentences into custody — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 9
2. They have to get up and take the people the Queen sentences into custody, and then carry them off to the prison down by the palace — score 9
3. They have to stand guard over the gate of the palace — score 1
4. They have to get up and take the people the Queen sentences into custody, which means they cannot stay as arches for the whole game — score 9

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score 9, tied with another option at 9 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 16, line 7: «Alice soon decides it is «a very difficult game indeed»: her hedgehog unrolls itself and crawls away, the ground is full of ridges and furrows, and the soldier…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «take» (+4); the same doer «soldiers» (+3); the same place «custody» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★★ · right ✓

Ruby, lowkey worried (a bit worried): «Alice wasn't scared at all in the game, right?» Put it right.

1. She felt very uneasy, as she might annoy the Queen any minute — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
2. She felt very uneasy, as she might annoy the Queen any minute, and she was very worried about the hedgehogs — score 5
3. She felt very cheerful, as she had won the first game — score 4
4. She felt very sleepy, as the game went on too long — score 5

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 5, tied with another option at 5 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 16, line 2: «Everyone plays at once, quarrelling and fighting over the hedgehogs, and the Queen stamps about shouting «Off with his head!» or «Off with her head!» about onc…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «feel» (+2); the same doer «alice» (+2); the same property (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★★ · right ✓

Why is it «no use speaking to it till its ears have come»?

1. She thinks it cannot see her yet — no support
2. It is too small — no support
3. It has no mouth — no support
4. Alice thinks it couldn't hear her without ears — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 4 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 16, line 10: «The Cheshire Cat appears grin first; Alice waits until its eyes, and then at least one ear, appear before talking, because «It's no use speaking to it till its…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «hear» (+4); the same circumstance (+2); the same thing acted on «alice» (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★★ · right ✓

Why does Alice change «she's so extremely—» into «—likely to win»?

1. The King is sitting on the hoop nearby — no support
2. The Queen has told her to be polite — score 5
3. The Queen is right behind her, listening — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7
4. The Queen is angry — no support

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 3 with score 7, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 16, line 3: «Then a grin appears in the air: the Cheshire Cat. Bit by bit its eyes and its head appear, and Alice tells it all her complaints. When she notices the Queen li…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «listen» (+4); the same doer «queen» (+3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★★ · right ✓

Is it TRUE or FALSE? «Alice tells the Queen honestly that she doesn't like her.»

1. False: she twists her words into a compliment once she sees the Queen — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
2. True: she tells the Queen plainly that she doesn't like her at all, and then she runs away from the garden in a huff — score 5
3. True: she tells the Queen plainly that she doesn't like her one bit — score 5
4. True: she says it out loud to the Queen, and the Queen smiles and passes on without any reply whatsoever — score 4

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 5, tied with another option at 5 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 16, line 3: «Then a grin appears in the air: the Cheshire Cat. Bit by bit its eyes and its head appear, and Alice tells it all her complaints. When she notices the Queen li…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «alice» (+3); the same thing acted on «queen» (+3). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★★ · wrong ✗

The King «got behind Alice as he spoke». What does this show?

1. He is a bit afraid of the Cat — ✓ the right answer · no support
2. He is a bit afraid of Alice — ← Mova's choice · score 8
3. He is a bit afraid of the Cat, and he hides behind Alice because he wants to be near the Queen — score 8
4. He is a bit afraid of the Cat, and also of the Queen, who has just shouted at him for being late — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 with score 8, tied with another option at 8 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 16, line 13: «The King says the Cat may kiss his hand; the Cat answers «I'd rather not»; the King says «Don't be impertinent» (impertinent = cheeky, rude), and gets behind A…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «king» (+4); the same circumstance (+4). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · ★★ · right ✓

What would have happened if the Cat's whole body had appeared before the Duchess came?

1. The executioner's argument would be gone, and the Queen's order could be carried out, and the whole game would have ended at once in great confusion and noise — score 8
2. The executioner's argument would be gone, and the Queen's order could be carried out — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
3. The Duchess would have sent the Cat straight to the Queen's table — no support
4. The executioner's argument would be gone, the Queen's order could be carried out, and Alice could finally play croquet in peace with the Cat watching from the hoop — score 8

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 2 with score 8, tied with another option at 8 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 16, line 17: «The executioner's argument: you can't cut off a head unless there is a body to cut it off from. The King's argument: anything that has a head can be beheaded.…», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «argue» (+4); the same doer «executioner» (+4). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★★ · right ✓

Who has the best argument about beheading the Cat, if you think it through?

1. The Queen, always — score 6
2. The King: a head can be cut off, whatever the body is like — no support
3. The executioner: with no body, there is nothing to cut the head off from — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7
4. The Duchess: she is the owner, so she should decide everything — score 7

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 7, tied with another option at 7 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 16, line 18: «Alice says «It belongs to the Duchess: you'd better ask her about it»; the Duchess is in prison, and the executioner goes off «like an arrow» to fetch her.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same doer «executioner» (+2); its «because» matches the remembered cause (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Zoe, salty (cross): «the Queen sentenced three players for cheating.» Put it right.

1. It was "for having missed their turns" — though nobody took turns at all, and the Queen shouted so loudly that the whole garden heard — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. It was «for having missed their turns» — though nobody took turns at all — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. It was for cheating, though the Queen never checked anyone at all — no support
4. It was "for having missed their turns" — though nobody took turns at all, which the Queen never once bothered to explain to anyone — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Looking back: in chapter VI, how did the Cat vanish the last time Alice saw it?

1. Slowly, beginning with the ears and ending with the nose — ← Mova's choice · score 7
2. Slowly, beginning with the end of the tail and ending with the grin, which stayed hanging in the air for a long time — score 7
3. Slowly, beginning with the end of the tail and ending with the grin — ✓ the right answer · score 7
4. Slowly, beginning with the end of the tail and ending with the grin, after the Duchess had already left the kitchen — score 7

Why: It took the question to ask what something is like. It chose option 1 with score 7, tied with another option at 7 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 12, line 4: «The Cat keeps vanishing and appearing, and at last fades away slowly, starting with its tail and ending with its grin, which hangs in the air on its own.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same doer «cat» (+2); the same property (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). The right option, 3, scored 7. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 12 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Looking back: what did Alice think was «the most curious thing I ever saw in my life» in chapter VI?

1. A smile without a face — no support
2. A grin without a cat, floating in the air above the croquet ground in the middle of the afternoon — no support
3. A grin without a cat — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. A grin without a cat, which was the most curious thing she had ever seen in her entire life before — ← Mova's choice · score 6

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 14, line 4: «The jokes are word tricks: the sisters «draw» treacle from the well, and also «draw» pictures of things that begin with M, like the moon, memory and «muchness»…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «things» (+3); the same thing acted on «things» (+3). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 13 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Looking back: where did Alice first meet the Cheshire Cat?

1. In the Duchess's kitchen, grinning on the hearth, beside the cook and the baby and the pepper pot — no support
2. In the Duchess's kitchen, grinning on the hearth, while the pepper was flying everywhere in the room — no support
3. On the croquet ground, asleep in the grass — ← Mova's choice · score 6
4. In the Duchess's kitchen, grinning on the hearth — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: It took the question to ask where. It chose option 3 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 4, line 14: «Alice says "O Mouse!" because she once saw in her brother's Latin Grammar "A mouse—of a mouse—to a mouse—a mouse—O mouse!"; "O Mouse" is the old way of calling…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «see» (+3); the same doer «alice» (+3). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 14 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Looking back: Alice says «you make one quite giddy» to the Cat in chapter VI. Who says «You make me giddy» in this chapter, and to whom?

1. The Queen, to the gardeners who keep bowing — ✓ the right answer · score 8
2. The Duchess, to Alice — ← Mova's choice · score 12
3. The Queen, to the soldiers who keep fainting — score 5
4. The King, to the Duchess and the cook — score 12

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 2 with score 12, tied with another option at 12 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 16, line 18: «Alice says «It belongs to the Duchess: you'd better ask her about it»; the Duchess is in prison, and the executioner goes off «like an arrow» to fetch her.», reached through what was said in the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+7); the same doer «duchess» (+5). The right option, 1, scored 8. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 15 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Looking back: the flamingo's long, bending neck is like Alice's own neck in chapter V. Who called Alice a «Serpent!» then?

1. The Pigeon, in chapter V, after she had been up in the tree — ← Mova's choice · score 7
2. The Mouse — no support
3. The Pigeon — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. The Duchess — score 5

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 7, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 16, line 1: «Croquet with live animals is hopeless. Just as Alice gets her flamingo's neck straight, it twists round and looks up into her face so puzzled that she bursts o…», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same doer «alice» (+3). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 16 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Looking back: the Cat told Alice in chapter VI «we're all mad here». Which event in this part fits that best?

1. Drinking tea with the March Hare at the table — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Croquet with live hedgehogs and flamingoes and walking arches, with everyone quarrelling and nobody taking a turn at all — no support
3. Croquet with live hedgehogs and flamingoes and walking arches, while the Queen shouts and the soldiers fall over — no support
4. Croquet with live hedgehogs and flamingoes and walking arches — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 17 · ★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ The executioner says no body, no beheading; the King says any head can be beheaded. Can both be right at once about the Cat?

1. No: one says it can't be done, the other says it can — ✓ the right answer · no support
2. No, because the Cat has already gone home — no support
3. No: one says it can't be done, the other says it can, and the Duchess must decide which of them is correct — no support
4. No: one says it can't be done, the other says it can, so the Queen will be forced to settle it by shouting — ← Mova's choice · score 4

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 15, line 15: «Alice answers «How should I know? It's no business of mine», «surprised at her own courage»; the Queen turns crimson and screams «Off with her head!»; Alice sa…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «scream» (+2); the same doer «queen» (+2). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 18 · ★★ · right ✓

★★★ Three players are sentenced «for having missed their turns». Why is that unfair in this game?

1. Nobody waits for turns, so no one can know when it is their turn, which the Queen should have told them at the very start of the game — score 7
2. Nobody waits for turns, so no one can know when it is their turn, and the Queen never explains the rules to anybody — score 7
3. Nobody waits for turns, so no one can know when it is their turn — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7
4. Because everyone was already cheating during the whole game — score 4

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 3 with score 7, tied with another option at 7 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 16, line 2: «Everyone plays at once, quarrelling and fighting over the hedgehogs, and the Queen stamps about shouting «Off with his head!» or «Off with her head!» about onc…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «croquet» (+3); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+3); the same thing acted on «turn» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 19 · ★★ · right ✓

★★★ Careful reading: when Alice gets her flamingo back, why does she think it «doesn't matter much» that the hedgehogs are gone?

1. All the arches are gone from this side of the ground anyway — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 12
2. The soldiers have all gone off to fetch the Duchess from the kitchen — score -2
3. Her flamingo is now back in her arms again — no support
4. The hedgehogs were never really useful for croquet — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 12, against -2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 16, line 16: «Alice hears the Queen sentence three players to be executed «for having missed their turns», though nobody takes turns at all; her flamingo has gone across the…», reached through what was said in the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «arches» (+4); the same place «side» (+4); the same property (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗

Identify the argument advanced by the executioner in respect of the beheading of the Cheshire Cat.

1. That cats have no heads — ← Mova's choice · score 6
2. That a head cannot be severed in the absence of a body from which to sever it — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. That a body cannot be cut when a head is missing — no support
4. That a head may be struck only while the Cat still stands on the lawn — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 16, line 4: «The Queen solves every problem the same way: «Off with his head!» But the Cat is only a head. The executioner says you can't cut off a head without a body to c…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «cat» (+3); the same thing acted on «head» (+3). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗

It is stated that Alice, upon perceiving the Queen behind her, altered her remark. Select the response which most accurately characterises the altered remark.

1. That the Queen was so careless that finishing the game was a waste of effort — ← Mova's choice · score 7
2. That the Queen was so extremely likely to win that finishing was hardly worth while, and that Alice was afraid to say so aloud in front of her — score 7
3. That the Queen was so extremely likely to win that finishing was hardly worth while — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. That the Queen was so extremely likely to win that finishing was hardly worth while, given the way she keeps shouting about heads — score 4

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 7, tied with another option at 7 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 16, line 12: ««How do you like the Queen?» — «Not at all... she's so extremely—» — then, seeing the Queen behind her — «—likely to win, that it's hardly worth while finishin…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «finish» (+4); the same thing acted on «game» (+3). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗

Ascertain the proprietor of the Cheshire Cat as declared by Alice.

1. A Queen — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Alice — no support
3. The gardeners — no support
4. The Duchess — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗

Which of the following statements is consistent with the established facts concerning the conduct of the game of croquet?

1. The hedgehogs played first and then the flamingoes played — no support
2. The players played all at once, without waiting for turns, and quarrelled throughout — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. They took turns in a neat row, and nobody quarrelled or shouted at all — ← Mova's choice · score 5
4. The players took turns and the Queen counted every single hoop — score 5

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 5, tied with another option at 5 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 16, line 16: «Alice hears the Queen sentence three players to be executed «for having missed their turns», though nobody takes turns at all; her flamingo has gone across the…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «take» (+4); the same thing acted on «turns» (+3). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

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