Exam question 2 · Looney Tunes: the real roadrunner and the real coyote

Identify the principal reason for which the footprint of the roadrunner resembles the letter X.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, footprint · What happens: identify, resemble · To what, where: principal reason, letter X

This is exam question 2 of lesson 122 «Looney Tunes: the real roadrunner and the real coyote» 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 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 resembles	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 footprint	det
8	footprint	footprint	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 resembles	nsubj
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 roadrunner	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 roadrunner	det
11	roadrunner	roadrunner	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 footprint	nmod
12	resembles	resemble	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 X	det
14	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 X	compound
15	X	x	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 resembles	obj
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	resemble	present	the footprint of the roadrunner	the letter X				for the principal reason	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

The bird crosses its legs at each step

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 bird	det
2	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 crosses	nsubj
3	crosses	cross	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 legs	nmod:poss
5	legs	leg	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 crosses	obj
6	at	at	ADP	_	8 step	case
7	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	8 step	det
8	step	step	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 crosses	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cross	present	the bird	bird's legs				at each step	vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leg=Patient

Option 2

The bird proceeds exclusively by hopping upon one foot

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 bird	det
2	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 proceeds	nsubj
3	proceeds	proceed	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	3 proceeds	advmod
5	by	by	SCONJ	_	6 hopping	mark
6	hopping	hop	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 proceeds	advcl
7	upon	upon	ADP	_	9 foot	case
8	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	9 foot	nummod
9	foot	foot	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 hopping	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	proceed	present	the bird					exclusively property	vn begin-55.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent
2	hop	gerund	the bird not said here			one foot			vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon foot=Trajectory

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

Each foot bears two toes directed forward and two directed backward

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	3 bears	det
2	foot	foot	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 bears	compound
3	bears	bear	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 directed	nsubj
4	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	5 toes	nummod
5	toes	toe	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 directed	nsubj
6	directed	direct	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	forward	forward	ADV	_	6 directed	advmod
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 directed	cc
9	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	10 directed	nsubj
10	directed	direct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 directed	conj
11	backward	backward	ADV	_	10 directed	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	direct	past	each foot bears					forward property	vn performance-26.7 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	direct	participle	two					backward property	vn performance-26.7 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4

The bird drags its tail transversely across its tracks

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 bird	det
2	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 drags	nsubj
3	drags	drag	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 tail	nmod:poss
5	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 drags	obj
6	transversely	transversely	ADV	_	3 drags	advmod
7	across	across	ADP	_	9 tracks	case
8	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 tracks	nmod:poss
9	tracks	track	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 drags	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	drag	present	the bird	bird's tail		bird's tracks		transversely property	vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tail=Theme

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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