Exam question 1 · Marty, Gloria and Melman: real zebras, hippos and giraffes

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the colouration of the zebra.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern · To what, where: response, colouration

This is exam question 1 of lesson 128 «Marty, Gloria and Melman: real zebras, hippos and giraffes» 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 colouration	det
11	colouration	colouration	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 zebra	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 zebra	det
14	zebra	zebra	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 colouration	nmod
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the colouration of the zebra		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus colouration=Experiencer

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 zebra possesses no stripes beneath its outer coat of hair

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 zebra	det
2	zebra	zebra	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 possesses	nsubj
3	possesses	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	5 stripes	det
5	stripes	stripe	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 possesses	obj
6	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	9 coat	case
7	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 coat	nmod:poss
8	outer	outer	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 coat	amod
9	coat	coat	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 possesses	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 hair	case
11	hair	hair	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 coat	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	present	the zebra	no stripes				beneath zebra's outer coat of hair	vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot stripe=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The skin of the zebra is black, and the animal is accordingly described as black with white stripes

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 skin	det
2	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 black	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 zebra	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 zebra	det
5	zebra	zebra	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 skin	nmod
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 black	cop
7	black	black	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 described	punct
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 described	cc
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 animal	det
11	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 described	nsubj:pass
12	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 described	aux:pass
13	accordingly	accordingly	ADV	_	14 described	advmod
14	described	describe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 black	parataxis
15	as	as	ADP	_	16 black	case
16	black	black	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 described	obl
17	with	with	ADP	_	19 stripes	case
18	white	white	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 stripes	amod
19	stripes	stripe	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 black	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the skin of the zebra					with white stripes; black property	tree rules
2	describe	present · passive		the animal				as black; accordingly property	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: subject=Theme as black=Attribute

Option 3

The colouration of the zebra alters according to exposure to sunlight

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 colouration	det
2	colouration	colouration	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 alters	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 zebra	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 zebra	det
5	zebra	zebra	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 colouration	nmod
6	alters	alter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	according	accord	VERB	ExtPos=ADP Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	9 exposure	case
8	to	to	ADP	_	7 according	fixed
9	exposure	exposure	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 alters	obl
10	to	to	ADP	_	11 sunlight	case
11	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 alters	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	alter	present	the colouration of the zebra					accord exposure; to sunlight	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
2	accord	gerund							vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent

Option 4

The skin of the zebra is white, and the black stripes are deposited upon the hair alone

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 skin	det
2	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 white	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 zebra	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 zebra	det
5	zebra	zebra	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 skin	nmod
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 white	cop
7	white	white	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 deposited	punct
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 deposited	cc
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 stripes	det
11	black	black	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 stripes	amod
12	stripes	stripe	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 deposited	nsubj:pass
13	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 deposited	aux:pass
14	deposited	deposit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 white	conj
15	upon	upon	ADP	_	17 hair	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 hair	det
17	hair	hair	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 deposited	obl
18	alone	alone	ADV	_	14 deposited	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the skin of the zebra					white property	tree rules
2	deposit	present · passive		the black stripes		the hair		alone property	vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme upon hair=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.

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