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Off with her head and the finest house on the river: Alice and Toad

Tests: 4 of 11 right · Exam: 2 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 8 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 54 of the language 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 ✗

«the queen chops off heads every minute, Wonderland is literally a horror film» What does the book really say?

  • 1. She really does chop off a head every single minute of the day — ← Mova's choice · no support
  • 2. The Gryphon says nobody is ever executed: her threats are hyperbole — ✓ the right answer · no support
  • 3. The Queen only chops off the heads of the gardeners who are late for work — no support
  • 4. Alice is executed at the end of the trial — 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 2 · ★ · wrong ✗

Your little brother reads that Alice made a pool of tears and tries to cry a pool in the bath. What should you tell him?

  • 1. Carroll made a saying come true as a joke; real tears don't make pools — ✓ the right answer · score 2
  • 2. He should drink lots more water first, so that he has enough tears to fill it — no support
  • 3. Only very tall people can cry pools of tears — ← Mova's choice · score 4
  • 4. He needs to cry for longer to fill the bath — score 3

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 4, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 54, line 10: «More than nine feet high, Alice cries «gallons of tears», making a pool «about four inches deep and reaching half down the hall»; Carroll turns the hyperbole o…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same thing acted on «pool» (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-2). The right option, 1, scored 2. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★ · wrong ✗

★ «Toad says his house is the finest on the whole river, so it is, he lives there» What is right?

  • 1. It's sarcasm: Toad hates his house — ← Mova's choice · score 1
  • 2. It's a boast; Toad always praises himself — ✓ the right answer · no support
  • 3. It's a fact, because Toad knows his own house — score 1
  • 4. It's understatement: Toad Hall is even finer — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 1, tied with another option at 1 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 54, line 12: «When the Mole politely praises Toad Hall, Toad cries «Finest house on the whole river», and then cannot help adding «Or anywhere else, for that matter».», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «toad» (+2); the same thing acted on «finest house» (+1). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-2). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★ · wrong ✗

★ «Rat says nothing is as good as messing about in boats, so school is pointless» What has gone wrong?

  • 1. Rat was lovingly exaggerating about what he enjoys most — ✓ the right answer · score 10
  • 2. Rat said that school is good, but that boats are even better — ← Mova's choice · score 11
  • 3. Rat was being sarcastic about boats — score 10
  • 4. Rat is right, and boats are the only thing worth doing — score 10

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 2 with score 11, against 10 for the next best. Its support: lesson 54, line 14: «The Rat tells the Mole there is «nothing — absolute nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats»; it is a loving exaggeration, the way…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «tell» (+4); it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same doer «rat» (+3). The right option, 1, scored 10. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★ · wrong ✗

★ Alice boasts she'd think nothing of tumbling down stairs. A cartoon shows her cheerfully jumping off a roof. What is wrong?

  • 1. Nothing, Alice really does jump off the house — ← Mova's choice · no support
  • 2. It misses Carroll's joke; nobody should ever try such falls — ✓ the right answer · no support
  • 3. Alice does it, but in the book she uses a parachute — no support
  • 4. The cartoon should show her falling up instead — 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 6 · ★ · right ✓

«Toad says it's the end of everything, so the book's over??» What really happens?

  • 1. Toad stays in prison for ever and ever after — score 3
  • 2. Toad is being dramatic; later he escapes — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
  • 3. Badger closes the book for good — no support
  • 4. The world ends and the book stops — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 8, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 54, line 15: «In prison Toad wails «This is the end of everything» and then «at least it is the end of the career of Toad, which is the same thing» — he makes the whole worl…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «toad» (+3); the same property (+3); the same action «escape» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★ · right ✓

★★ The Queen's «Off with her head!» and Josh's sister's «touch my straighteners and I'll KILL you». What do they have in common?

  • 1. Both are polite requests said in a loud voice — no support
  • 2. Both are real plans that will happen the next day — score 5
  • 3. Both are big threats made in a temper that aren't real plans — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
  • 4. Both are understatement that makes things smaller — score 4

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 8, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 45, line 9: ««Touch my straighteners again and I'll KILL you» means «keep your hands off my things, I'm cross»; it is not a real plan, but if someone says things like that…», 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 «real plan» (+3); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+3). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · ★ · right ✓

★★ The Rat's «a little wet» and a British dad's «slight problem in the kitchen». Which kind of talk do both use?

  • 1. Understatement — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3
  • 2. Sarcasm — score 3
  • 3. A plain true fact — score 3
  • 4. Hyperbole — score 3

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 3, tied with another option at 3 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 5, line 14: «Singular "they" for one person whose gender is unknown has been used since the 1300s; some people today also use it as their own pronoun, and major dictionarie…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «use» (+2); the same doer «both» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Alice is «more than nine feet high». Her pool of tears is «about four inches deep». A child of 4 feet stands in it. About how far up her legs does it come?

  • 1. Up to her chin, so she has to swim — ← Mova's choice · no support
  • 2. About nine feet, as high as Alice — no support
  • 3. About four inches, just over her ankles — ✓ the right answer · no support
  • 4. Over her head, like a deep pool — 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 10 · ★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Toad's song says the clever men at Oxford «none of them know one half as much» as Toad. If that were true and Toad knew 100 facts, what is the most any Oxford man could know?

  • 1. More than 200 facts — ← Mova's choice · no support
  • 2. All the facts there are — no support
  • 3. Exactly 100 facts — no support
  • 4. Less than 50 facts — ✓ 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 11 · ★ · right ✓

★★★ Which of these is Carroll making a saying come TRUE, rather than a character exaggerating?

  • 1. The Queen's «Off with her head!» — no support
  • 2. Toad's «Finest house on the whole river» — no support
  • 3. The pool from Alice's gallons of tears — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
  • 4. The Rabbit's «how late it's getting!» — no support

Why: It took the question to ask a circumstance (with what, when, how). It chose option 3 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 54, line 2: «When Alice is more than nine feet high and cries, she goes on «shedding gallons of tears, until there was a large pool all round her». People say «she cried bu…», 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 circumstance (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · right ✓

Identify the device by which Lewis Carroll represents Alice, weeping, as producing «a large pool all round her».

  • 1. A figure of speech rendered literally for comic effect — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
  • 2. A sarcastic remark of the White Rabbit — no support
  • 3. An understatement of Alice's distress — no support
  • 4. A precise account of the volume of human tears — 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 ✓

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

  • 1. A measured comparison of the houses on the river — no support
  • 2. A sarcastic criticism of his own house — no support
  • 3. An instance of polite understatement — no support
  • 4. A boast consistent with his habitual vanity — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 4 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 54, line 4: «And Toad boasts about everything: his house is the «Finest house on the whole river», and in his song he is cleverer than all «The clever men at Oxford». The b…», 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 «boast» (+3). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗

Select the response consistent with the account of the Gryphon in respect of the Queen's repeated command «Off with her head!».

  • 1. The executions are carried out once a minute — ← Mova's choice · no support
  • 2. The executions are deferred until the trial — no support
  • 3. The executions are confined to the gardeners — no support
  • 4. The executions are her fancy, and none is carried out — ✓ 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 ✗

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.

  • 1. To reproach the Mole severely for his carelessness — ← Mova's choice · no support
  • 2. To boast of his own powers of swimming — no support
  • 3. To diminish the misfortune kindly, that the Mole may be comforted — ✓ the right answer · no support
  • 4. To complain of the coldness of the river — 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

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/language/54-off-with-her-head-and-the-finest-house-on-the-river-alice-and-toad/