Exam question 1 · How real mice survive: squeezing, climbing and hiding

Identify the principal function of the continuous gnawing behaviour exhibited by mice.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, continuous · What happens: identify, gnaw, exhibit · To what, where: principal function, behaviour

This is exam question 1 of lesson 120 «How real mice survive: squeezing, climbing and hiding» 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	_	7 continuous	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 continuous	det
7	continuous	continuou	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 function	nmod
8	gnawing	gnaw	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 continuous	acl
9	behaviour	behaviour	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 gnawing	obj
10	exhibited	exhibit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 behaviour	acl
11	by	by	ADP	_	12 mice	case
12	mice	mouse	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 exhibited	obl
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal function of the continuous		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent function=Theme
2	gnaw	gerund	the continuous not said here	behaviour		vn chew-39.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent behaviour=Patient
3	exhibit	participle		behaviour not said here	by mice	vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

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 serves to communicate with other rodents

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 communicate	mark
4	communicate	communicate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 serves	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 rodents	case
6	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 rodents	amod
7	rodents	rodent	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 communicate	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	serve	present	It						tree rules
2	communicate	to-infinitive						with other rodents	vn correspond-36.1 «NP V PP.co-agent PP.theme whether S»: agent=Agent with rodent=Co-Agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

It wears down incisors which grow throughout life

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 wears	nsubj
2	wears	wear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	down	down	ADP	_	2 wears	compound:prt
4	incisors	incisor	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 wears	obj
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 grow	nsubj
6	grow	grow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 incisors	acl:relcl
7	throughout	throughout	ADP	_	8 life	case
8	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 grow	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	wear down	present	It	incisors					vn wipe_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent incisor=Source
2	grow	present	incisors			life			vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme throughout life=Location

Option 3

It sharpens the claws of the forelimbs

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 sharpens	nsubj
2	sharpens	sharpen	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 claws	det
4	claws	claw	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 sharpens	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 forelimbs	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 forelimbs	det
7	forelimbs	forelimb	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 claws	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sharpen	present	It	the claws of the forelimbs					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent claw=Patient

Option 4

It is a manifestation of illness

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 manifestation	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 manifestation	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 manifestation	det
4	manifestation	manifestation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 illness	case
6	illness	illness	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 manifestation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a manifestation				of illness	tree rules

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/120-how-real-mice-survive/e1/