Alice in Wonderland, chapter X, part 1: The Lobster Quadrille (a dance, a whiting and a porpoise)

Tests: 8 of 19 right · Exam: 3 of 4 right · Kind: ★★ · Understood: 18 of 23 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 19 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 · ★★ · right ✓

Ella: «Alice told them she'd scoffed loads of lobster, I'm dead.» (scoffed = eaten greedily; I'm dead = so funny) Put it right.

1. She tasted lobster and said «No, never» — no support
2. She told them she had eaten loads of lobster and then said she was dead, since they were so funny to her — no support
3. She began to eat, and then stopped — no support
4. She began «I once tasted—» but stopped and said «No, never» — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 19, line 3: «Alice is very careful now. Twice she almost says she has eaten these creatures — «I once tasted—» lobster, «I've often seen them at dinn—» — and stops herself…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «taste» (+4); the same property (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★★ · wrong ✗

What would happen to lobsters in a real Lobster Quadrille, if it were done as the creatures describe?

1. They'd be flung out to sea in the middle of the dance, and then the dancers would swim after them and bring them back to shore for dinner — score 3
2. They'd be thrown out to sea at the start — ← Mova's choice · score 8
3. They'd be flung out to sea in the middle of the dance — ✓ the right answer · score 3
4. They'd be flung out to sea in the middle of the dance, and the whole crowd would then sing a sad song about the lobsters they had lost — score 3

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 2 with score 8, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 19, line 16: «The Gryphon's reason: they went with the lobsters to the dance, got thrown out to sea, fell a long way, got their tails fast in their mouths, and couldn't get…», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «throw out» (+4); the same circumstance (+4). The right option, 3, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★★ · right ✓

Ruby from Sydney: «they wore their togs and danced on the sand, sweet as.» (togs = swimming costume; sweet as = great) What does the book say about the dancing?

1. They danced round Alice, singing happily — no support
2. They danced in lines, treading on her hat — no support
3. They danced in a ring — no support
4. They danced round and round Alice, treading on her toes, singing slowly and sadly — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 4 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 17, line 19: ««I've a right to think,» says Alice; «Just about as much right as pigs have to fly,» says the Duchess — then the Queen appears and her voice dies away.», reached through what was said in the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+5); the same thing acted on «right» (+3). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★★ · wrong ✗

«Then turn not pale, beloved snail, but come and join the dance.» What is the whiting trying to do?

1. Scare the snail away — no support
2. Tell the snail to stop crying — ← Mova's choice · score 3
3. Warn the snail about the porpoise — no support
4. Persuade the scared snail that being thrown far out to sea is fine — ✓ the right answer · score 1

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 3, against 1 for the next best. Its support: lesson 19, line 11: «The song: «"Will you walk a little faster?" said a whiting to a snail. "There's a porpoise close behind us, and he's treading on my tail."»», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «say» (+2); the same receiver (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). The right option, 4, scored 1. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Why does Alice check herself at «dinn—»?

1. She was about to say she had seen dinner on a plate — ← Mova's choice · score 7
2. She was about to say she had dined with whitings — score 7
3. She was about to say she had seen dinner served with whitings on the table, and then she remembered that it was not polite to speak of food — score 7
4. She was about to say she had seen whitings at dinner, on a plate — ✓ the right answer · score 7

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). 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 19, line 7: «Alice begins «I once tasted—» but checks herself and says «No, never» — she won't tell a turtle she has eaten lobster.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «say» (+4); the same doer «alice» (+3). The right option, 4, scored 7. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★★ · wrong ✗

«They have their tails in their mouths» — why did Alice think this?

1. Whitings were served curled up — no support
2. Whitings were cooked with their tails in mouths — score 6
3. Whitings were kept in dishes with crumbs — ← Mova's choice · score 7
4. Whitings were served curled up like that, with crumbs, in her time — ✓ the right answer · score 5

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 3 with score 7, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 14, line 2: «Alice asks what happens when they get back to the start, and the March Hare quickly changes the subject. They wake the Dormouse for a story: three sisters, Els…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «keep» (+4); the same doer «alice» (+3). The right option, 4, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Is this TRUE or FALSE? «The Gryphon's explanation of the whiting's tail is a real fact about fish.»

1. False: it's a made-up chain of «so... so... so...» to sound reasonable — ✓ the right answer · no support
2. False: whitings have no tails — ← Mova's choice · score 3
3. True: fish really do get stuck — no support
4. False: it's a joke — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 19, line 4: «The Gryphon explains, very seriously, why whitings have their tails in their mouths: they were thrown out to sea with the lobsters, fell a long way, and their…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «whitings» (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · ★★ · right ✓

Max, chuffed: «the Gryphon said shoes under the sea are made of soles and heels.» What did he really say, and what's the joke?

1. «Shoes and eels»: a joke on the sea — score 5
2. «Soles and eels»: «eels» sounds like «heels», and a sole is a fish — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 9
3. «Soles and eels»: «eels» sounds like «heels», and a sole is a fish, so shoes under the sea are made of fish — score 9
4. He said «soles and heels», but the Gryphon really said «soles and eels», which Max missed because he was chuffed — score 5

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 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 19, line 18: «Under the sea, shoes are made of «soles and eels» — a pun on soles and heels; a sole is also a flat fish.», 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 thing acted on «flat fish» (+3); the same doer «sole» (+1); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★★ · wrong ✗

«Whiting» does the boots and shoes. Which two meanings of «whiting» make the joke?

1. A cleaning cloth and a fish — score 2
2. A small fish, and an old white cleaning powder — ✓ the right answer · score 4
3. A small white fish that lives near the shore, and a kind of polish made from crumbs and salt water — ← Mova's choice · score 7
4. A small fish and a white paint — score 4

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 7, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 19, line 19: ««No wise fish would go anywhere without a porpoise» — porpoise (a sea animal like a small dolphin) sounds like purpose (a reason); «I mean what I say,» says th…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «whiting» (+5); it fills the role the question asks for (+2). The right option, 2, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · ★★ · right ✓

«I mean what I say,» says the Mock Turtle, offended. What is funny about this?

1. He is wrong about his own words — no support
2. He means «porpoise», and «porpoise» makes no sense — yet he's sure he means it — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
3. He means «purpose» — score 5
4. He means «porpoise» and it is a fish — score 5

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 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 19, line 5: «Last joke: no wise fish goes on a journey «without a porpoise». «Don't you mean purpose?» asks Alice. «I mean what I say,» answers the Mock Turtle, offended —…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «mock turtle» (+3); the same action «mean» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Looking back: at the tea-party, who told Alice «Then you should say what you mean»?

1. The Cheshire Cat — ← Mova's choice · score 7
2. The Mock Turtle, who was sitting at the tea-table near the Hatter — score 7
3. The March Hare — ✓ the right answer · score 6
4. The Gryphon, who was the one who always told the Mock Turtle what to say — score 3

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. 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 19, line 15: «Cooks in Alice's time served whiting curled with the tail in its mouth and covered in breadcrumbs; the Mock Turtle says the crumbs «would all wash off in the s…», 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 «cooks» (+3). The right option, 3, scored 6. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 12 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Looking back: in chapter II, Alice upset the Mouse again and again. What did she keep talking about?

1. Her cat Dinah, which she called such a capital one for catching mice, and a little dog that always barked at rats in the garden — no support
2. Her dog and a mouse trap — ← Mova's choice · score 10
3. Her cat Dinah, «such a capital one for catching mice», and a dog that kills rats — ✓ the right answer · score 8
4. Her cat Dinah, «such a capital one for catching mice», and a dog that kills rats, as well as her fear of mice — score 8

Why: It took the question to ask a circumstance (with what, when, how). It chose option 2 with score 10, against 8 for the next best. 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 remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «talk» (+5); the same doer «alice» (+5). The right option, 3, scored 8. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 13 · ★★ · right ✓

Looking back: in chapter III, the birds all hurried off. What had Alice said?

1. That Dinah would «eat a little bird as soon as look at it» — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 9
2. That Dinah, her cat, would eat a little bird as soon as she looked at it, and the Mouse was not impressed — score 9
3. That Dinah would chase a little bird — score 2
4. That Dinah would «eat a little bird as soon as look at it», and she repeated this several times after the birds had flown away — score 9

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. 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 6, line 18: «Alice says Dinah will "eat a little bird as soon as look at it", and the birds leave on "various pretexts" (made-up excuses).», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «eat» (+2); the same doer «dinah» (+2); the same property (+2); its «because» matches the remembered cause (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 14 · ★★ · right ✓

Looking back: how has Alice changed, from the Mouse in chapter II to the Mock Turtle in chapter X?

1. She now lets the creatures talk about their own affairs, and no longer tries to speak of her cat Dinah or of the dogs at home — score 3
2. She now stops herself before saying something that would upset the creatures, which she never did when she was talking to the Mouse in chapter II — score 7
3. She now keeps quiet about the sea — score 4
4. She now stops herself before saying something that would upset the creatures — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7

Why: It took the question to ask what something is like. It chose option 4 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 3, line 15: «Alice wonders, "Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle!", and thinks of girls her age she might have been changed into.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «girls» (+4); the same thing acted on «alice» (+4). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 15 · ★★ · right ✓

Looking back: in chapter II, why did Alice think the Mouse might be French?

1. She thought it might have «come over with William the Conqueror» — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 11
2. She thought it might have «come over with William the Conqueror», because she had been told that the Normans spoke French at the English court — score 11
3. She thought it might have come over from France on a boat, as she had heard of many visitors doing at the seaside — score 9
4. It came over with the Normans — score 9

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score 11, tied with another option at 11 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 4, line 15: «The Mouse says nothing to her English, so Alice thinks "Perhaps it doesn't understand English" and guesses it is a French mouse "come over with William the Con…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «come over» (+4); the same doer «french mouse» (+3); the same property (+2); the same circumstance (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 16 · ★★ · right ✓

Looking back: in chapter II, what did Alice believe you always find at the English seaside?

1. Bathing machines and children digging — no support
2. Lodging houses and a bus station — no support
3. Bathing machines, children digging, lodging houses and a railway station, all near the sand and sea — no support
4. Bathing machines, children digging, lodging houses and a railway station — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 2

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 4 with score 2, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 13, line 1: «Alice reaches the March Hare's house and finds a tea-table under a tree. The March Hare and the Hatter are squashed into one corner, leaning their elbows on a…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «alice» (+2); it fills the role the question asks for (+1). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 17 · ★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Count the steps the creatures shout out: advance twice, set to partners, change lobsters, retire, throw the lobsters, swim after them, somersault, change lobsters again, back to land. How many times do you «change lobsters»?

1. 1 — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. 2 — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Four times — no support
4. Twice — 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 18 · ★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ «Porpoise» and «purpose», «soles» and «souls», «whiting» and «whitening». Which of these pairs is NOT used as a joke in this part?

1. Porpoise and purpose — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Eels and heels — no support
3. Soles and souls — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Soles and eels — 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 19 · ★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ «The further off from England the nearer is to France.» When is this true?

1. When you are on the beach in England — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. When you are crossing the sea between England and France, on a boat, far from both shores — no support
3. When you are crossing the sea between England and France — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. When you are standing on the cliffs of England and looking out to sea towards the coast of France — 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 1 · formal language · wrong ✗

Identify the action which the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon describe as constituting a principal step of the Lobster Quadrille.

1. The throwing of the lobsters as far out to sea as possible, and then swimming after them to bring them back — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. The throwing of the lobsters onto the sand, after which the dancers line up in neat rows for the song — no support
3. The throwing of the lobsters as far out to sea as possible — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. The dancing of the two lines — 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 2 · formal language · right ✓

It is given that Alice twice commenced a remark concerning the eating of sea creatures and desisted. Select the response which most accurately characterises her reason.

1. A wish not to give offence to her companions — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. A wish to hear the rest of the Mock Turtle's story about the whiting before she spoke again — no support
3. A wish not to give offence to her companions, since the creatures were sensitive about being eaten — no support
4. A desire to keep the dance going — 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 3 · formal language · right ✓

Ascertain the cause assigned by the Gryphon for the whiting's tail being found in its mouth.

1. Its being thrown out to sea — score 6
2. Its having been eaten and then thrown away — no support
3. Its having been thrown out to sea with the lobsters and having fallen a long way — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7
4. Its being chased by a lobster and falling down — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 7, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 19, line 4: «The Gryphon explains, very seriously, why whitings have their tails in their mouths: they were thrown out to sea with the lobsters, fell a long way, and their…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «throw out» (+4); the same place «sea» (+2); the same circumstance (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓

Which of the following statements is consistent with the established facts concerning the snail in the Mock Turtle's song?

1. He declined to join the dance, judging the distance too great — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
2. He wished to dance, but the distance was too small — no support
3. He accepted the invitation to join the dance but stopped halfway, as the distance seemed too great for a snail — score 1
4. He declined to join the dance, judging the distance too great, and told the whiting so in a loud voice from the sand — score 4

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 4, tied with another option at 4 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 19, line 12: «The snail says «Too far, too far!» and will not join the dance; the whiting answers «The further off from England the nearer is to France»; when the song ends,…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «join» (+2); the same doer «snail» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

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