---
title: Ascertain the true nature of the objects which, in the dream, descen… — Alice in Wonderland, chapter XII, part… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the true nature of the objects which, in the dream, descended upon Alice as a pack of cards. Exam question 3 of lesson 24 «Alice in Wonderland, chapter XII, part 2: Alice's Evidence (sentence first, a pack of cards, and waking up)» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dep
---

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# Exam question 3 · Alice in Wonderland, chapter XII, part 2: Alice's Evidence…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the true nature of the objects which, in the dream, descended upon Alice as a pack of cards.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, descend · **To what, where:** true nature, dream

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 24 «Alice in Wonderland, chapter XII, part 2: Alice's Evidence (sentence first, a pack of cards, and waking up)» 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/24-alice-alices-evidence-2/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:24-alice-alices-evidence-2:e3:1
# text = Ascertain the true nature of the objects which, in the dream, descended upon Alice as a pack of cards.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	nature	nature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	objects	object	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
8	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	1	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	dream	dream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	descended	descend	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	acl	_	_
15	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	Alice	Alice	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
17	as	as	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	pack	pack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	cards	card	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	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 true nature of the objects |  | the dream |  |  | vn ensure-99 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Precondition nature=Beneficiary which=Theme |
| 2 | **descend** | participle |  | the dream *not said here* |  |  |  | upon Alice; as a pack of cards | vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dead leaves fluttering down from the trees

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:24-alice-alices-evidence-2:e3:o1:1
# text = Dead leaves fluttering down from the trees
1	Dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	fluttering	flutter	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	down	down	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **flutter down** | gerund | Dead leaves |  |  | the trees |  | down *property* | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dead leaves fluttering down from the trees in the autumn garden, as her sister's dream showed

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:24-alice-alices-evidence-2:e3:o2:1
# text = Dead leaves fluttering down from the trees in the autumn garden, as her sister's dream showed
1	Dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nsubj	_	_
3	fluttering	flutter	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
4	down	down	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	autumn	autumn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	garden	garden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	as	as	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
14	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	's	's	PART	POS	_	15	case	_	_
17	dream	dream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
18	showed	show	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **flutter down** | gerund | Dead leaves and her sister's dream *not said here* |  |  | the trees in the autumn garden |  | down *property* | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **show** | past | Dead leaves and her sister's dream |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **dream** |  | her sister |  |  |  |  |  | nom dream «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Snowflakes drifting down from clouds

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:24-alice-alices-evidence-2:e3:o3:1
# text = Snowflakes drifting down from clouds
1	Snowflakes	snowflake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
2	drifting	drift	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	1	acl	_	_
3	down	down	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	clouds	cloud	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drift down** | gerund | Snowflakes *not said here* |  |  | clouds |  | down *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from cloud=Trajectory |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Rain falling from the grey sky

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:24-alice-alices-evidence-2:e3:o4:1
# text = Rain falling from the grey sky
1	Rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	falling	fall	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	1	acl	_	_
3	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall** | gerund | Rain *not said here* |  |  | the grey sky |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from sky=Initial\_Location |

<!-- 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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- ← previous: [Alice in Wonderland, chapter XII, part…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/24-alice-alices-evidence-2/e2/)
- next →: [Alice in Wonderland, chapter XII, part…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/24-alice-alices-evidence-2/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Alice in Wonderland, chapter XII, part 2: Alice's Evidence (sentence first, a pack of cards, and waking up)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/24-alice-alices-evidence-2/)