Exam question 3 · The Lion King: real lions, prides and the circle of life

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the so-called elephant graveyard?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, call · To what, where: elephant graveyard · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 3 of lesson 124 «The Lion King: real lions, prides and the circle of life» 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	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	14 graveyard	det
10	so	so	ADV	_	12 called	advmod
11	-	-	PUNCT	_	10 so	punct
12	called	call	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 graveyard	acl
13	elephant	elephant	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 graveyard	compound
14	graveyard	graveyard	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the elephant graveyard	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	call	participle	the elephant graveyard not said here		vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: 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 is a single valley to which all elderly elephants proceed

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	5 valley	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 valley	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 valley	det
4	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 valley	amod
5	valley	valley	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	to	to	ADP	_	7 which	case
7	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 proceed	obl
8	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	10 elephants	det
9	elderly	elderly	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 elephants	amod
10	elephants	elephant	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 proceed	nsubj
11	proceed	proceed	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 valley	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a single valley					tree rules
2	proceed	present	all elderly elephants					to a single valley	vn begin-55.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

No such place exists; elephants die wherever they happen to be, though remains may accumulate near water

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	DET	PronType=Neg	3 place	det
2	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 place	amod
3	place	place	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 exists	nsubj
4	exists	exist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	;	;	PUNCT	_	7 die	punct
6	elephants	elephant	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 die	nsubj
7	die	die	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 exists	ccomp
8	wherever	wherever	ADV	PronType=Int	10 happen	advmod
9	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 happen	nsubj
10	happen	happen	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 die	advcl
11	to	to	PART	_	12 be	mark
12	be	be	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 happen	xcomp
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 accumulate	punct
14	though	though	SCONJ	_	17 accumulate	mark
15	remains	remains	NOUN	Number=Ptan	17 accumulate	nsubj
16	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	17 accumulate	aux
17	accumulate	accumulate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 die	conj
18	near	near	ADP	_	19 water	case
19	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 accumulate	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	other	roles by
1	exist	present	no such place			tree rules
2	die	present	elephants			vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute
3	happen	present	elephants = elephant		wherever property	tree rules
4	be	to-infinitive	elephants = elephant not said here			vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
5	accumulate	may	remains	water		vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3

It is a location known to every herd and carefully concealed from people and from scientists

The tree, 16 words

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 location	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 location	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 location	det
4	location	location	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	known	know	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 location	acl
6	to	to	ADP	_	8 herd	case
7	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	8 herd	det
8	herd	herd	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 known	obl
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 concealed	cc
10	carefully	carefully	ADV	_	11 concealed	advmod
11	concealed	conceal	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 known	conj
12	from	from	ADP	_	13 people	case
13	people	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 concealed	obl
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 scientists	cc
15	from	from	ADP	_	16 scientists	case
16	scientists	scientist	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 people	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a location		tree rules
2	know	participle		a location not said here	to every herd	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer
3	conceal	participle			from people and scientists; carefully property	vn concealment-16 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent from people=Beneficiary

Option 4

It is situated beneath every desert in Africa

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 situated	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 situated	aux:pass
3	situated	situate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	6 desert	case
5	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	6 desert	det
6	desert	desert	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 situated	obl
7	in	in	ADP	_	8 Africa	case
8	Africa	Africa	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 desert	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	situate	present · passive		It		every desert in Africa			vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme beneath desert=Destination

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/124-the-lion-king-real-lions/e3/