---
title: Ascertain the transformation undergone by the pebbles subsequent to… — Alice in Wonderland, chapter IV, part… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the transformation undergone by the pebbles subsequent to their arrival upon the floor. Exam question 2 of lesson 8 «Alice in Wonderland, chapter IV, part 2: Little Bill, the pebbles and the puppy» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the
---

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# Exam question 2 · Alice in Wonderland, chapter IV, part 2: Little Bill, the…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the transformation undergone by the pebbles subsequent to their arrival upon the floor.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, pebbles · **What happens:** ascertain, undergo, arrive · **To what, where:** transformation

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 8 «Alice in Wonderland, chapter IV, part 2: Little Bill, the pebbles and the puppy» 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/8-alice-ch4-part2-little-bill/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:8-alice-ch4-part2-little-bill:e2:1
# text = Ascertain the transformation undergone by the pebbles subsequent to their arrival upon the floor.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	transformation	transformation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	undergone	undergo	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	pebbles	pebble	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
8	subsequent	subsequent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	arrival	arrival	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	floor	floor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	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 transformation |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent transformation=Topic |
| 2 | **undergo** | participle |  | the transformation *not said here* |  |  |  | by the pebbles | tree rules |
| 3 | **arrive** |  | pebbles *= pebble* |  |  |  |  | upon the floor | nom arrival «act intransitive»: poss=agent upon=obl |

<!-- .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 -->
Conversion into small cakes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:8-alice-ch4-part2-little-bill:e2:o1:1
# text = Conversion into small cakes
1	Conversion	conversion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	into	into	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	cakes	cake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Turned into little loaves

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:8-alice-ch4-part2-little-bill:e2:o2:1
# text = Turned into little loaves
1	Turned	turn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
2	into	into	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	loaves	loaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | participle |  |  |  | little loaves |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme into loaf=Trajectory |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Melted away

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:8-alice-ch4-part2-little-bill:e2:o3:1
# text = Melted away
1	Melted	melt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
2	away	away	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **melt away** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They vanished

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:8-alice-ch4-part2-little-bill:e2:o4:1
# text = They vanished
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	vanished	vanish	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 | **vanish** | past | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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 IV, part…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/8-alice-ch4-part2-little-bill/e1/)
- next →: [Alice in Wonderland, chapter IV, part…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/8-alice-ch4-part2-little-bill/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Alice in Wonderland, chapter IV, part 2: Little Bill, the pebbles and the puppy](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/8-alice-ch4-part2-little-bill/)