Exam question 4 · Behind the scenes: a day with the keepers

State the reason for which reptiles kept in captivity require ultraviolet lamps.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: reptiles · What happens: keep, require · To what, where: reptiles, captivity, ultraviolet lamps

This is exam question 4 of lesson 109 «Behind the scenes: a day with the keepers» 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	State	state	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 State	appos
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 require	obl
6	reptiles	reptile	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 require	nsubj
7	kept	keep	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 reptiles	acl
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 captivity	case
9	captivity	captivity	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 kept	obl
10	require	require	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 reason	acl:relcl
11	ultraviolet	ultraviolet	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 lamps	amod
12	lamps	lamp	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 require	obj
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 State	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	keep	participle		reptiles not said here		captivity			vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in captivity=Location
2	require	present	reptiles	ultraviolet lamps				for the reason	vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme lamp=Precondition

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

To render their skin visible in darkness

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 render	mark
2	render	render	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 skin	nmod:poss
4	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 render	obj
5	visible	visible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 render	xcomp
6	in	in	ADP	_	7 darkness	case
7	darkness	darkness	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 visible	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	render	to-infinitive		their skin				visible property	vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent skin=Theme

Option 2

To maintain the temperature of their water

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 maintain	mark
2	maintain	maintain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 temperature	det
4	temperature	temperature	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 maintain	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 water	case
6	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 water	nmod:poss
7	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 temperature	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	maintain	to-infinitive		the temperature of their water					vn declare-29.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent temperature=Theme

Option 3

To prevent the shedding of the skin

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 prevent	mark
2	prevent	prevent	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 shedding	det
4	shedding	shedding	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 prevent	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 skin	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 skin	det
7	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 shedding	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prevent	to-infinitive		the shedding of the skin					vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer shedding=Theme
2	shed		the skin						nom shedding «process intransitive»: of=agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

To enable the synthesis of vitamin D for the maintenance of sound bones

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 enable	mark
2	enable	enable	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 synthesis	det
4	synthesis	synthesis	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 enable	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 D	case
6	vitamin	vitamin	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 D	compound
7	D	D	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 synthesis	nmod
8	for	for	ADP	_	10 maintenance	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 maintenance	det
10	maintenance	maintenance	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 enable	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 bones	case
12	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 bones	compound
13	bones	bone	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 maintenance	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	enable	to-infinitive		the synthesis of vitamin D				for the maintenance of sound bones	tree rules
2	maintain			sound bones					nom maintenance «act 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.

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