Exam question 2 · Koalas, wombats, Tasmanian devils and the platypus

Identify the means by which the platypus detects its prey beneath the water.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, the, platypus · What happens: identify, mean, detect · To what, where: prey

This is exam question 2 of lesson 104 «Koalas, wombats, Tasmanian devils and the platypus» 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 means	nsubj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Identify	ccomp
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 detects	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 platypus	det
7	platypus	platypus	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 detects	nsubj
8	detects	detect	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 means	parataxis
9	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 prey	nmod:poss
10	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 detects	obj
11	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	13 water	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 water	det
13	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 detects	obl
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	mean	present	the			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
3	detect	present	the platypus	platypus's prey	beneath the water	vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer prey=Stimulus

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

By sight, its eyes being fully open

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	2 sight	case
2	sight	sight	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 open	obl
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 sight	punct
4	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 eyes	nmod:poss
5	eyes	eye	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 open	nsubj
6	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 open	cop
7	fully	fully	ADV	_	8 open	advmod
8	open	open	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	gerund	sight's eyes					by sight; fully, open property	tree rules

Option 2

By hearing, its ears remaining open

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	2 hearing	case
2	hearing	hearing	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 ears	punct
4	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 ears	nmod:poss
5	ears	ear	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 hearing	appos
6	remaining	remain	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 ears	acl
7	open	open	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 remaining	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	remain	gerund	hearing's ears not said here					open property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

By perceiving minute electrical signals with its bill, its eyes, ears and nostrils being closed

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 perceiving	mark
2	perceiving	perceive	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	minute	minute	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 perceiving	obj
4	electrical	electrical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 signals	amod
5	signals	signal	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 perceiving	obj
6	with	with	ADP	_	8 bill	case
7	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 bill	nmod:poss
8	bill	bill	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 perceiving	obl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 eyes	punct
10	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 eyes	nmod:poss
11	eyes	eye	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 bill	conj
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 ears	punct
13	ears	ear	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 bill	conj
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 nostrils	cc
15	nostrils	nostril	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 ears	conj
16	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	17 closed	aux:pass
17	closed	close	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 ears	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	perceive	gerund		electrical signals	minute	with its bill and its eyes and ears and nostrils	vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer signal=Stimulus
2	close	gerund · passive		ears and nostrils not said here			vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»
3	bill		its = it				nom bill «communication transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

By the sense of smell alone

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	3 sense	case
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 sense	det
3	sense	sense	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 smell	case
5	smell	smell	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 sense	nmod
6	alone	alone	ADV	_	5 smell	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sense			smell					nom sense «cognition 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/104-koalas-wombats-tasmanian-devils-and-the-platypus/e2/