Exam question 1 · Sea lions, seals and otters

Identify the feature by which a sea lion may most readily be distinguished from a true seal.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, feature · What happens: identify, distinguish · To what, where: feature, sea lion

This is exam question 1 of lesson 100 «Sea lions, seals and otters» of the biology 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.

The question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 feature	det
3	feature	feature	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 distinguished	obl
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 lion	det
7	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 lion	compound
8	lion	lion	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 distinguished	nsubj:pass
9	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	13 distinguished	aux
10	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	11 readily	advmod
11	readily	readily	ADV	_	13 distinguished	advmod
12	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	13 distinguished	aux:pass
13	distinguished	distinguish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 feature	acl:relcl
14	from	from	ADP	_	17 seal	case
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 seal	det
16	true	true	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 seal	amod
17	seal	seal	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 distinguished	obl
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the feature					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent feature=Theme
2	distinguish	may · passive	the feature	a sea lion				from a true seal; readily property	vn distinguish-23.5-1 «NP V NP.theme PP.co-theme»: agent=Agent subject=Theme from seal=Co-Theme

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

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The presence of small external ear flaps and the capacity to walk upon four flippers

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 presence	det
2	presence	presence	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	7 flaps	case
4	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 flaps	amod
5	external	external	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 flaps	amod
6	ear	ear	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 flaps	compound
7	flaps	flap	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 presence	nmod
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 capacity	cc
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 capacity	det
10	capacity	capacity	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 flaps	conj
11	to	to	PART	_	12 walk	mark
12	walk	walk	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 capacity	acl
13	upon	upon	ADP	_	15 flippers	case
14	four	four	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	15 flippers	nummod
15	flippers	flipper	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 walk	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	walk	to-infinitive				four flippers			vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon flipper=Trajectory

Option 2

The possession of a striped coat

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 possession	det
2	possession	possession	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 coat	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 coat	det
5	striped	striped	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 coat	amod
6	coat	coat	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 possession	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess			a striped coat					nom possession «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

The possession of two long tusks and a thick coat of fur

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 possession	det
2	possession	possession	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 tusks	case
4	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	6 tusks	nummod
5	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 tusks	amod
6	tusks	tusk	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 possession	nmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 coat	cc
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 coat	det
9	thick	thick	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 coat	amod
10	coat	coat	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 tusks	conj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 fur	case
12	fur	fur	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 coat	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess			two long tusks and a thick coat of fur					nom possession «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

The absence of whiskers

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 absence	det
2	absence	absence	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 whiskers	case
4	whiskers	whisker	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 absence	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	absent			whiskers					nom absence «state transitive»: of=patient

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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/100-sea-lions-seals-and-otters/e1/