Exam question 2 · The penguins of Madagascar: real penguins and chimps

Identify the principal reason for the black and white colouration of the penguin.

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

This is exam question 2 of lesson 129 «The penguins of Madagascar: real penguins and chimps» 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	_	10 colouration	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 colouration	det
7	black	black	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 colouration	amod
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 white	cc
9	white	white	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 black	conj
10	colouration	colouration	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 reason	nmod
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 penguin	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 penguin	det
13	penguin	penguin	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 colouration	nmod
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				for the black colouration of the penguin	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme

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 permits penguins to perceive one another in darkness

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	2 permits	nsubj
2	permits	permit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	penguins	penguin	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 permits	obj
4	to	to	PART	_	5 perceive	mark
5	perceive	perceive	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 permits	xcomp
6	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	5 perceive	obj
7	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	6 one	fixed
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 darkness	case
9	darkness	darkness	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 perceive	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	permit	present	It	penguins					vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Causer penguin=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality
2	perceive not said to happen	to-infinitive		one		darkness			vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer one=Stimulus

Option 2

It serves to distinguish the males, which are black, from the females, which are white

The tree, 15 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	2 serves	nsubj
2	serves	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 distinguish	mark
4	distinguish	distinguish	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 serves	xcomp
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 males	det
6	males	male	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 distinguish	obj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 black	punct
8	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 black	nsubj
9	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 black	cop
10	black	black	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 males	acl:relcl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 females	punct
12	from	from	ADP	_	14 females	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 females	det
14	females	female	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 serves	parataxis
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 white	punct
16	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	18 white	nsubj
17	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	18 white	cop
18	white	white	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 females	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	serve	present	It			tree rules
2	distinguish	to-infinitive		the males		vn distinguish-23.5-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Attribute male=Theme
3	is	present	the males		black property	tree rules
4	is	present	the females		white property	tree rules

Option 3

It derives from the colouration of the fish upon which they feed

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	2 derives	nsubj
2	derives	derive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	5 colouration	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 colouration	det
5	colouration	colouration	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 derives	obl
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 fish	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 fish	det
8	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 colouration	nmod
9	upon	upon	ADP	_	10 which	case
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 feed	obl
11	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 feed	nsubj
12	feed	feed	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 fish	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	derive	present	It			the colouration of the fish			vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: agent=Agent from colouration=Material
2	feed	present	they					upon the fish	vn gorge-39.6 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=Agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It constitutes camouflage, the dark back matching the sea and the pale belly the sky

The tree, 15 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	2 constitutes	nsubj
2	constitutes	constitute	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	camouflage	camouflage	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 constitutes	obj
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 back	punct
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 back	det
6	dark	dark	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 back	amod
7	back	back	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 camouflage	appos
8	matching	match	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 back	acl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 sea	det
10	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 matching	obj
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 belly	cc
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 belly	det
13	pale	pale	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 belly	amod
14	belly	belly	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 camouflage	conj
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 sky	det
16	sky	sky	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 constitutes	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	constitute	present	It	camouflage and the pale belly					tree rules
2	match	gerund	the dark back not said here	the sea					vn amalgamate-22.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sea=Patient

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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