---
title: Ascertain the meaning attributed by Louise Bourgeois to her spider s… — Modern art: "my little brother could d… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the meaning attributed by Louise Bourgeois to her spider sculptures entitled Maman. Exam question 4 of lesson 18 «Modern art: "my little brother could do that"» of the arts course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's c
---

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# Exam question 4 · Modern art: "my little brother could do that"

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the meaning attributed by Louise Bourgeois to her spider sculptures entitled Maman.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, spider sculptures · **What happens:** ascertain, attribute, entitle · **To what, where:** meaning, Maman

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 18 «Modern art: "my little brother could do that"» of the arts 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/arts/18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:arts:18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the meaning attributed by Louise Bourgeois to her spider sculptures entitled Maman.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	attributed	attribute	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	Louise	Louise	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl:agent	_	_
7	Bourgeois	Bourgeois	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	flat	_	_
8	to	to	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
9	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
10	spider	spider	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	sculptures	sculpture	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
12	entitled	entitle	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
13	Maman	Maman	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the meaning |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Topic |
| 2 | **attribute** | participle |  | the meaning *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **entitle** | past | Louise's spider sculptures | Maman |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
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 {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Her mother, patient and protective in the manner of a spider spinning

```conllu
# sent_id = question:arts:18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that:e4:o1:1
# text = Her mother, patient and protective in the manner of a spider spinning
1	Her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	patient	patient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	protective	protective	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	manner	manner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	spider	spider	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	spinning	spin	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spin** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A monster encountered in a nightmare of her childhood, which she wished to forget

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:arts:18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that:e4:o2:1
# text = A monster encountered in a nightmare of her childhood, which she wished to forget
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	monster	monster	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
3	encountered	encounter	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	nightmare	nightmare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	childhood	childhood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
12	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	wished	wish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	forget	forget	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **encounter** | participle |  | a monster *not said here* |  | a nightmare of monster's childhood |  |  | vn encounter-30.5 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **wish** | past | a monster |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **forget** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | a monster *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No meaning whatsoever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:arts:18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that:e4:o3:1
# text = No meaning whatsoever
1	No	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	2	det	_	_
2	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A warning concerning venomous spiders

```conllu
# sent_id = question:arts:18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that:e4:o4:1
# text = A warning concerning venomous spiders
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	warning	warning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	concerning	concern	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
4	venomous	venomous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	spiders	spider	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **concern** | gerund | a warning *not said here* | venomous spiders |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus spider=Experiencer |

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

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