Exam question 4 · Marty, Gloria and Melman: real zebras, hippos and giraffes

Ascertain the explanation of zebra stripes which is at present best supported by experiment.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, zebra stripes · What happens: ascertain, be, support, explain · To what, where: explanation

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 explanation	det
3	explanation	explanation	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 stripes	case
5	zebra	zebra	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 stripes	compound
6	stripes	stripe	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 explanation	nmod
7	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 present	nsubj
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 present	cop
9	at	at	ADP	_	10 present	case
10	present	present	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 stripes	acl:relcl
11	best	well	ADV	Degree=Sup	12 supported	advmod
12	supported	support	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 present	advcl
13	by	by	ADP	_	14 experiment	case
14	experiment	experiment	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 supported	obl
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the explanation of zebra stripes		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent explanation=Topic
2	is	present	zebra stripes		present property	tree rules
3	support	participle	zebra stripes not said here		by experiment; well property	vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer
4	explain		zebra stripes			nom explanation «communication intransitive»: of=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

The stripes assist the zebra in the location of water

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 stripes	det
2	stripes	stripe	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 assist	nsubj
3	assist	assist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 zebra	det
5	zebra	zebra	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 assist	obj
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 location	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 location	det
8	location	location	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 assist	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 water	case
10	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 location	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	assist	present	the stripes		the zebra	the location of water			vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent zebra=Beneficiary

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The stripes discourage biting flies from alighting

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 stripes	det
2	stripes	stripe	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 discourage	nsubj
3	discourage	discourage	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	biting	bite	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 flies	amod
5	flies	fly	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 discourage	obj
6	from	from	SCONJ	_	7 alighting	mark
7	alighting	alight	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 discourage	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	discourage	present	the stripes	biting flies	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus fly=Experiencer
2	bite	gerund			vn swat-18.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent
3	alight	gerund	the stripes not said here		tree rules

Option 3

The stripes serve to retain heat in cold weather

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 stripes	det
2	stripes	stripe	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 serve	nsubj
3	serve	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 retain	mark
5	retain	retain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 serve	xcomp
6	heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 retain	obj
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 weather	case
8	cold	cold	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 weather	amod
9	weather	weather	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 retain	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	serve	present	the stripes						tree rules
2	retain	to-infinitive	the stripes not said here	heat		cold weather			tree rules

Option 4

The stripes afford concealment in green vegetation

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 stripes	det
2	stripes	stripe	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 afford	nsubj
3	afford	afford	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	concealment	concealment	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 afford	obj
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 vegetation	case
6	green	green	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 vegetation	amod
7	vegetation	vegetation	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 afford	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	afford	infinitive	the stripes	concealment		green vegetation			tree rules

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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