Exam question 2 · The African savanna area: hippos, meerkats, ostriches, wil…

Identify the principal function of the red-orange secretion upon the skin of the hippopotamus.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify · To what, where: principal function

This is exam question 2 of lesson 102 «The African savanna area: hippos, meerkats, ostriches, wild dogs and hyenas» 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	4 function	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 function	amod
4	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	10 secretion	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 secretion	det
7	red	red	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 orange	amod
8	-	-	PUNCT	_	7 red	punct
9	orange	orange	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 secretion	amod
10	secretion	secretion	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 function	nmod
11	upon	upon	ADP	_	13 skin	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 skin	det
13	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 secretion	nmod
14	of	of	ADP	_	16 hippopotamus	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 hippopotamus	det
16	hippopotamus	hippopotamus	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 skin	nmod
17	.	.	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 principal function of the orange secretion upon the skin of the hippopotamus					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent function=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

It is blood lost through numerous small wounds

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 blood	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 blood	cop
3	blood	blood	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	lost	lose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 blood	acl
5	through	through	ADP	_	8 wounds	case
6	numerous	numerous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 wounds	amod
7	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 wounds	amod
8	wounds	wound	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 lost	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	blood					tree rules
2	lose	participle		blood not said here		numerous small wounds			vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

It is sweat coloured by the mud of the river

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 coloured	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 coloured	aux:pass
3	sweat	sweat	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	4 coloured	aux:pass
4	coloured	colour	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 mud	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 mud	det
7	mud	mud	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 coloured	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 river	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 river	det
10	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 mud	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	colour	present · passive	the mud of the river	It					tree rules

Option 3

It serves to attract a mate from a great distance across the river

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 serves	nsubj
2	serves	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 attract	mark
4	attract	attract	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 serves	xcomp
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 mate	det
6	mate	mate	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 attract	obj
7	from	from	ADP	_	10 distance	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 distance	det
9	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 distance	amod
10	distance	distance	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 attract	obl
11	across	across	ADP	_	13 river	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 river	det
13	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 attract	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	serve	present	It						tree rules
2	attract	to-infinitive		a mate		the river		from a great distance	vn lure-59.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mate=Patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It serves as a protection against the sun and possibly against infection

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 serves	nsubj
2	serves	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	as	as	ADP	_	5 protection	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 protection	det
5	protection	protection	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 serves	obl
6	against	against	ADP	_	8 sun	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 sun	det
8	sun	sun	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 serves	obl
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 infection	cc
10	possibly	possibly	ADV	_	12 infection	advmod
11	against	against	ADP	_	12 infection	case
12	infection	infection	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 sun	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	serve	present	It					as a protection; against the sun and infection	vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent as protection=Attribute

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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