Exam question 1 · The polar zone: arctic foxes, snowy owls, lemmings and rei…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the arctic fox?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: arctic fox

This is exam question 1 of lesson 106 «The polar zone: arctic foxes, snowy owls, lemmings and reindeer» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 fox	det
10	arctic	arctic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 fox	amod
11	fox	fox	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the arctic fox				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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

Its coat remains white throughout the year

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 coat	nmod:poss
2	coat	coat	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 remains	nsubj
3	remains	remain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	white	white	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 remains	xcomp
5	throughout	throughout	ADP	_	7 year	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 year	det
7	year	year	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 remains	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	remain	present	Its coat				year	white property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

Its large ears dissipate heat, as do those of the fennec fox

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 ears	nmod:poss
2	large	large	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 ears	amod
3	ears	ear	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 dissipate	nsubj
4	dissipate	dissipate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 dissipate	obj
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 do	punct
7	as	a	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 do	nsubj
8	do	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 dissipate	conj
9	those	that	PRON	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	8 do	obj
10	of	of	ADP	_	13 fox	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 fox	det
12	fennec	fennec	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 fox	compound
13	fox	fox	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 those	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	dissipate	present	Its large ears	heat					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent heat=Patient
2	do	present	as	those					vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Eventuality

Option 3

It shivers whenever the temperature falls below freezing

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 shivers	nsubj
2	shivers	shiver	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	whenever	whenever	SCONJ	_	6 falls	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 temperature	det
5	temperature	temperature	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 falls	nsubj
6	falls	fall	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 shivers	advcl
7	below	below	ADP	_	8 freezing	case
8	freezing	freezing	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 falls	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	shiver	present	It						vn body_internal_states-40.6 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer
2	fall	present	the temperature			freezing			vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme below freezing=Location

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Its small ears and short muzzle limit the loss of heat, and its coat changes colour with the seasons

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 ears	nmod:poss
2	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 ears	amod
3	ears	ear	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 changes	nsubj
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 limit	cc
5	short	short	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 limit	amod
6	muzzle	muzzle	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 limit	compound
7	limit	limit	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 ears	conj
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 loss	det
9	loss	loss	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 limit	obj
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 heat	case
11	heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 loss	nmod
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 changes	punct
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 changes	cc
14	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	15 coat	nmod:poss
15	coat	coat	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 changes	nsubj
16	changes	change	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
17	colour	colour	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 changes	obj
18	with	with	ADP	_	20 seasons	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 seasons	det
20	seasons	season	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 changes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	change	present	Its small ears and short muzzle limit	colour			season		vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent colour=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.

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