Exam question 3 · The penguins of Madagascar: real penguins and chimps

Ascertain the means by which the penguin is enabled to consume sea water.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, the, penguin · What happens: ascertain, mean, enable, consume · To what, where: penguin, sea water · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 3 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 means	nsubj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Ascertain	ccomp
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 enabled	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 penguin	det
7	penguin	penguin	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 enabled	nsubj:pass
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 enabled	aux:pass
9	enabled	enable	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 means	ccomp
10	to	to	PART	_	11 consume	mark
11	consume	consume	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 enabled	xcomp
12	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 water	compound
13	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 consume	obj
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here		vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	mean	present	the		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	enable	present · passive		the penguin	tree rules
4	consume	to-infinitive	the penguin not said here	sea water	vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Asset

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

Salt is harmless to all animals in any quantity

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Salt	salt	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 harmless	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 harmless	cop
3	harmless	harmless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 animals	case
5	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	6 animals	det
6	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 harmless	obl
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 quantity	case
8	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	9 quantity	det
9	quantity	quantity	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 animals	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Salt					to all animals in any quantity; harmless property	tree rules

Option 2

The penguin consumes only melted snow

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 penguin	det
2	penguin	penguin	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 consumes	nsubj
3	consumes	consume	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	only	only	ADV	_	5 melted	advmod
5	melted	melt	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 snow	amod
6	snow	snow	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 consumes	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	consume	present	the penguin	melted snow					vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent snow=Asset
2	melt	participle							vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

A gland situated above the eyes removes the excess of salt

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 gland	det
2	gland	gland	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 removes	nsubj
3	situated	situate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 gland	acl
4	above	above	ADP	_	6 eyes	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 eyes	det
6	eyes	eye	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 situated	obl
7	removes	remove	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 excess	det
9	excess	excess	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 removes	obj
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 salt	case
11	salt	salt	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 excess	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	situate	participle		a gland not said here		the eyes			vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent above eye=Destination
2	remove	present	a gland	the excess of salt					vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent excess=Theme

Option 4

The penguin expels the salt by means of its tongue

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 penguin	det
2	penguin	penguin	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 expels	nsubj
3	expels	expel	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 salt	det
5	salt	salt	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 expels	obj
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 means	case
7	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 expels	parataxis
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 tongue	case
9	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 tongue	nmod:poss
10	tongue	tongue	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 means	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	expel	present	the penguin	the salt					vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent salt=Theme
2	mean	present						of penguin's tongue	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent

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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