Exam question 3 · Timon and Pumbaa: real meerkats and warthogs

Identify the principal reason for which the warthog enters its burrow in reverse.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, warthog · What happens: identify, enter · To what, where: principal reason, burrow, reverse

This is exam question 3 of lesson 125 «Timon and Pumbaa: real meerkats and warthogs» 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	9 enters	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 warthog	det
8	warthog	warthog	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 enters	nsubj
9	enters	enter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl
10	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 burrow	nmod:poss
11	burrow	burrow	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 enters	obj
12	in	in	ADP	_	13 reverse	case
13	reverse	reverse	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 enters	obl
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	enter	present	the warthog	warthog's burrow		reverse		for the principal reason	vn escape-51.1-1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme burrow=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.

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

Its tail is thereby protected from the cold of the night and from biting insects

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 tail	nmod:poss
2	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 protected	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 protected	aux:pass
4	thereby	thereby	ADV	_	5 protected	advmod
5	protected	protect	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	from	from	ADP	_	8 cold	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 cold	det
8	cold	cold	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 protected	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 night	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 night	det
11	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 cold	nmod
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 insects	cc
13	from	from	ADP	_	15 insects	case
14	biting	bite	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	15 insects	amod
15	insects	insect	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 cold	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	protect	present · passive		Its tail				from the cold of the night and biting insects; thereby property	vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Beneficiary from cold=Theme
2	bite	gerund							vn swat-18.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent

Option 2

The burrow is thereby cleansed of debris

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 burrow	det
2	burrow	burrow	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 cleansed	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 cleansed	aux:pass
4	thereby	thereby	ADV	_	5 cleansed	advmod
5	cleansed	cleanse	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 debris	case
7	debris	debris	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 cleansed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cleanse	present · passive		the burrow				of debris; thereby property	vn free-10.6.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Source of debris=Theme

Option 3

The burrow is of insufficient width to permit turning

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 burrow	det
2	burrow	burrow	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 width	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 width	cop
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 width	case
5	insufficient	insufficient	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 width	amod
6	width	width	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	to	to	PART	_	8 permit	mark
8	permit	permit	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 width	acl
9	turning	turning	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 permit	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the burrow					of insufficient width	tree rules
2	permit	to-infinitive		turning					vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent turning=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Its tusks are thereby directed towards the entrance, whence a predator may approach

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 tusks	nmod:poss
2	tusks	tusk	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 directed	nsubj:pass
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 directed	aux:pass
4	thereby	thereby	ADV	_	5 directed	advmod
5	directed	direct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	towards	towards	ADP	_	8 entrance	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 entrance	det
8	entrance	entrance	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 directed	obl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 approach	punct
10	whence	whence	ADV	PronType=Int	14 approach	advmod
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 predator	det
12	predator	predator	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 approach	nsubj
13	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	14 approach	aux
14	approach	approach	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 directed	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	direct	present · passive		Its tusks				towards the entrance; thereby property	vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.predicate»: subject=Eventuality
2	approach	may	a predator					whence property	vn escape-51.1-1 «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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