Exam question 3 · Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck: real rabbits, hares and ducks

Identify the principal reason for which the plumage of a duck sheds water.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, plumage · What happens: identify, shed · To what, where: principal reason, water

This is exam question 3 of lesson 123 «Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck: real rabbits, hares and ducks» 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 sheds	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 plumage	det
8	plumage	plumage	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 sheds	nsubj
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 duck	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 duck	det
11	duck	duck	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 plumage	nmod
12	sheds	shed	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl
13	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 sheds	obj
14	.	.	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	shed	present	the plumage of a duck	water				for the principal reason	vn substance_emission-43.4-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location water=Source

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

The elevated temperature of the skin evaporates the water as soon as it lands

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 temperature	det
2	elevated	elevated	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 temperature	amod
3	temperature	temperature	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 evaporates	nsubj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 skin	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 skin	det
6	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 temperature	nmod
7	evaporates	evaporate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 water	det
9	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 evaporates	obj
10	as	as	ADV	_	11 soon	advmod
11	soon	soon	ADV	Degree=Pos	7 evaporates	advmod
12	as	as	SCONJ	_	14 lands	mark
13	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 lands	nsubj
14	lands	land	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 soon	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	evaporate	present	the elevated temperature of the skin	the water				soon property	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent water=Patient
2	land	present	temperature						vn pocket-9.10-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

The duck expels water from the feathers by vigorous flight

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 duck	det
2	duck	duck	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 expels	nsubj
3	expels	expel	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 expels	obj
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 feathers	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 feathers	det
7	feathers	feather	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 expels	obl
8	by	by	ADP	_	10 flight	case
9	vigorous	vigorous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 flight	amod
10	flight	flight	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 expels	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	expel	present	the duck	water		the feathers		by vigorous flight	vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent water=Theme from feather=Source

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Oil from a gland near the tail is distributed over the feathers during preening

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Oil	oil	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 distributed	nsubj:pass
2	from	from	ADP	_	4 gland	case
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 gland	det
4	gland	gland	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Oil	nmod
5	near	near	ADP	_	7 tail	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 tail	det
7	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 gland	nmod
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 distributed	aux:pass
9	distributed	distribute	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
10	over	over	ADP	_	12 feathers	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 feathers	det
12	feathers	feather	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 distributed	obl
13	during	during	ADP	_	14 preening	mark
14	preening	preen	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	9 distributed	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	distribute	present · passive		Oil from a gland near the tail		the feathers			vn contribute-13.2-1 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: subject=Theme
2	preen	gerund							vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4

The feathers are impregnated with a wax which the duck obtains from water plants

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 feathers	det
2	feathers	feather	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 impregnated	nsubj:pass
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 impregnated	aux:pass
4	impregnated	impregnate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 wax	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 wax	det
7	wax	wax	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 impregnated	obl
8	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 obtains	obj
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 duck	det
10	duck	duck	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 obtains	nsubj
11	obtains	obtain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 wax	acl:relcl
12	from	from	ADP	_	14 plants	case
13	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 plants	compound
14	plants	plant	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 obtains	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	impregnate	present · passive		the feathers				with a wax	vn fill-9.8 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Destination with wax=Theme
2	obtain	present	the duck	a wax		water plants			vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent which=Theme from plant=Source

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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