Exam question 3 · Looney Tunes: the real roadrunner and the real coyote

It is depicted in an animated film that a coyote remains suspended in the air beyond the edge of a cliff. Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the matter?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: depict, suspend, follow, characteris · To what, where: It, animated film, air, matter

This is exam question 3 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

Sentence 1: It is depicted in an animated film that a coyote remains suspended in the air beyond the edge of a cliff.

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	3 depicted	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 depicted	aux:pass
3	depicted	depict	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	7 film	case
5	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 film	det
6	animated	animated	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 film	amod
7	film	film	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 depicted	obl
8	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 suspended	nsubj:pass
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 coyote	det
10	coyote	coyote	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 suspended	nsubj:pass
11	remains	remain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 suspended	aux:pass
12	suspended	suspend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 film	acl:relcl
13	in	in	ADP	_	15 air	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 air	det
15	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 suspended	obl
16	beyond	beyond	ADP	_	18 edge	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 edge	det
18	edge	edge	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 suspended	obl
19	of	of	ADP	_	21 cliff	case
20	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	21 cliff	det
21	cliff	cliff	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 edge	nmod
22	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 depicted	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	depict	present · passive		It		a animated film			vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S_ING»: subject=Theme
2	suspend	present · passive		a animated film		the air		beyond the edge of a cliff	vn put_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in air=Destination

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.

Sentence 2: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the matter?

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	10 matter	det
10	matter	matter	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	?	?	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 matter				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

The options

Option 1

A body remains suspended in the air until it perceives the absence of ground beneath it

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 body	det
2	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 remains	nsubj
3	remains	remain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	suspended	suspend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 remains	xcomp
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 air	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 air	det
7	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 suspended	obl
8	until	until	SCONJ	_	10 perceives	mark
9	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 perceives	nsubj
10	perceives	perceive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 remains	advcl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 absence	det
12	absence	absence	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 perceives	obj
13	of	of	ADP	_	14 ground	case
14	ground	ground	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 absence	nmod
15	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	16 it	case
16	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 perceives	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	remain	present	a body				tree rules
2	suspend	participle	a body not said here		the air		vn spatial_configuration-47.6 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in air=Location
3	perceive	present	body	the absence of ground		beneath ground	vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer absence=Stimulus
4	absent			ground			nom absence «state transitive»: of=patient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Gravity acts without delay, and a body unsupported from below commences to fall at once

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Gravity	gravity	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 acts	compound
2	acts	act	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 fall	nsubj
3	without	without	ADP	_	4 delay	case
4	delay	delay	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 acts	nmod
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 commences	punct
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 commences	cc
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 body	det
8	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 commences	nsubj
9	unsupported	unsupported	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 body	amod
10	from	from	ADP	_	11 below	case
11	below	below	ADV	_	9 unsupported	obl
12	commences	commence	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 fall	advcl
13	to	to	PART	_	14 fall	mark
14	fall	fall	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
15	at	at	ADP	_	16 once	case
16	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	14 fall	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	commence	present	a body						vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
2	fall	to-infinitive	Gravity acts without delay						vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme at once=Location

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Gravity acts upon a body only after an interval of several seconds

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Gravity	gravity	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 acts	nsubj
2	acts	act	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	upon	upon	ADP	_	5 body	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 body	det
5	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 acts	obl
6	only	only	ADV	_	9 interval	advmod
7	after	after	ADP	_	9 interval	case
8	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 interval	det
9	interval	interval	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 acts	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 seconds	case
11	several	several	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 seconds	amod
12	seconds	second	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 interval	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	act	present	Gravity				after a interval of several seconds	upon a body	vn act-114-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4

A body unsupported from below descends at a constant slow rate

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 body	det
2	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 descends	nsubj
3	unsupported	unsupported	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 body	amod
4	from	from	ADP	_	5 below	case
5	below	below	ADV	_	3 unsupported	obl
6	descends	descend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	at	at	ADP	_	11 rate	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 rate	det
9	constant	constant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 rate	amod
10	slow	slow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 rate	amod
11	rate	rate	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 descends	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	descend	present	a body			a constant slow rate			vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V»: agent=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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