---
title: Ascertain the answer furnished by the Hatter in respect of the riddl… — Alice in Wonderland, chapter VII, part… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the answer furnished by the Hatter in respect of the riddle «Why is a raven like a writing-desk?» Exam question 3 of lesson 13 «Alice in Wonderland, chapter VII, part 1: A Mad Tea-Party (no room, riddles and Time)» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and 
---

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# Exam question 3 · Alice in Wonderland, chapter VII, part 1: A Mad Tea-Party…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the answer furnished by the Hatter in respect of the riddle «Why is a raven like a writing-desk?»

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, furnish, be, respect · **To what, where:** answer, respect, raven, riddle

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This is exam question 3 of lesson 13 «Alice in Wonderland, chapter VII, part 1: A Mad Tea-Party (no room, riddles and Time)» of the books 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/books/13-alice-a-mad-tea-party-1/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:13-alice-a-mad-tea-party-1:e3:1
# text = Ascertain the answer furnished by the Hatter in respect of the riddle «Why is a raven like a writing-desk?»
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	furnished	furnish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Hatter	Hatter	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	respect	respect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	riddle	riddle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	17	advmod	_	_
15	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	raven	raven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	appos	_	_
18	like	like	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
20	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	desk	desk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	»	»	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 answer |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent answer=Topic |
| 2 | **furnish** | participle |  | the answer *not said here* |  | respect of the riddle |  | by the Hatter | vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | a raven |  |  |  | like a writing desk | tree rules |
| 4 | **respect** |  |  | the riddle |  |  |  |  | nom respect «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
That the answer was a secret

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:13-alice-a-mad-tea-party-1:e3:o1:1
# text = That the answer was a secret
1	That	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	secret	secret	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | that answer | a secret |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
That he had not the slightest idea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:13-alice-a-mad-tea-party-1:e3:o2:1
# text = That he had not the slightest idea
1	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	nsubj	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	slightest	slight	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	7	amod	_	_
7	idea	idea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | That | the slightest idea |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent idea=Patient |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
That it has no answer at all, he says

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:13-alice-a-mad-tea-party-1:e3:o3:1
# text = That it has no answer at all, he says
1	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	nsubj	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	ccomp	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | That | no answer |  | all |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent answer=Patient |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | he |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
That he knows it, but will not tell

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:13-alice-a-mad-tea-party-1:e3:o4:1
# text = That he knows it, but will not tell
1	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	nsubj	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	knows	know	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present | That | it |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 2 | **not** **tell** *speech: assert* | future | That *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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**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.

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- ← previous: [Alice in Wonderland, chapter VII, part…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/13-alice-a-mad-tea-party-1/e2/)
- next →: [Alice in Wonderland, chapter VII, part…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/13-alice-a-mad-tea-party-1/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Alice in Wonderland, chapter VII, part 1: A Mad Tea-Party (no room, riddles and Time)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/13-alice-a-mad-tea-party-1/)