Exam question 3 · Koalas, wombats, Tasmanian devils and the platypus

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the droppings of the wombat.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern · To what, where: response, droppings

This is exam question 3 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 droppings	det
11	droppings	dropping	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 concerning	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 wombat	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 wombat	det
14	wombat	wombat	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 droppings	nmod
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the droppings of the wombat		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus dropping=Experiencer

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

They are spherical in form and are buried deep within the burrow by the mother

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 spherical	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 spherical	cop
3	spherical	spherical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 form	case
5	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 spherical	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 buried	cc
7	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 buried	aux:pass
8	buried	bury	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 spherical	conj
9	deep	deep	ADV	_	8 buried	advmod
10	within	within	ADP	_	12 burrow	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 burrow	det
12	burrow	burrow	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 buried	obl
13	by	by	ADP	_	15 mother	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 mother	det
15	mother	mother	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 buried	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	They			form		spherical property	tree rules
2	bury	present · passive	the mother					within the burrow; deep property	vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 2

They are spiral in form and are consumed by the young

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 spiral	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 spiral	cop
3	spiral	spiral	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 form	case
5	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 spiral	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 consumed	cc
7	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 consumed	aux:pass
8	consumed	consume	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 spiral	conj
9	by	by	ADP	_	11 young	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 young	det
11	young	young	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 consumed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	They			form		spiral property	tree rules
2	consume	present · passive	They not said here					by the young	vn consume-66 «NP V NP»

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

They are cubic in form, being shaped within the gut, and serve to mark its territory

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 cubic	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 cubic	cop
3	cubic	cubic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 form	case
5	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 cubic	obl
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 shaped	punct
7	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 shaped	aux:pass
8	shaped	shape	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 cubic	parataxis
9	within	within	ADP	_	11 gut	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 gut	det
11	gut	gut	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 shaped	obl
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 serve	punct
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 serve	cc
14	serve	serve	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 cubic	parataxis
15	to	to	PART	_	16 mark	mark
16	mark	mark	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	14 serve	xcomp
17	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	18 territory	nmod:poss
18	territory	territory	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 mark	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	is	present	They		form	cubic property	tree rules
2	shape	gerund · passive				within the gut	vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»
3	serve	infinitive					tree rules
4	mark	to-infinitive		gut's territory			vn image_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent territory=Destination

Option 4

They are carved into shape by the animal's claws

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 carved	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 carved	aux:pass
3	carved	carve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	into	into	ADP	_	5 shape	case
5	shape	shape	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 carved	obl
6	by	by	ADP	_	10 claws	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 animal	det
8	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 claws	nmod:poss
9	's	's	PART	_	8 animal	case
10	claws	claw	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 carved	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	carve	present · passive	the animal's claws	They		shape			vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP.material PP.product»: agent=Agent subject=Material into shape=Product

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/e3/