Exam question 4 · Paw Patrol: real police, fire, rescue and sniffer dogs

Ascertain the method by which working dogs acquire their skills.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, working dogs · What happens: ascertain, work, acquire · To what, where: method, skills

This is exam question 4 of lesson 140 «Paw Patrol: real police, fire, rescue and sniffer dogs» 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 method	det
3	method	method	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 acquire	obl
6	working	work	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 dogs	amod
7	dogs	dog	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 acquire	nsubj
8	acquire	acquire	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 method	acl:relcl
9	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 skills	nmod:poss
10	skills	skill	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 acquire	obj
11	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the method		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent method=Topic
2	work	gerund				vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	acquire	present	working dogs	dogs's skills	by the method	vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent skill=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

Instinct present from birth without any instruction

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Instinct	instinct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 present	amod
2	present	present	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	4 birth	case
4	birth	birth	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 present	nmod
5	without	without	ADP	_	7 instruction	case
6	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	7 instruction	det
7	instruction	instruction	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 present	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Training over several months by means of rewards such as toys, food and praise

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Training	training	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 means	nsubj
2	over	over	ADP	_	4 months	case
3	several	several	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 months	amod
4	months	month	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Training	nmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 means	case
6	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 rewards	case
8	rewards	reward	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 means	obl
9	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	11 toys	case
10	as	as	ADP	_	9 such	fixed
11	toys	toy	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 rewards	nmod
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 food	punct
13	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 toys	conj
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 praise	cc
15	praise	praise	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 toys	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mean	present	Training over several months					of rewards such toys and food and praise	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent

Option 3

Observation of the work of other species, such as horses, over a period of several years

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Observation	observation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 work	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 work	det
4	work	work	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Observation	nmod
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 species	case
6	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 species	amod
7	species	species	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 work	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 horses	punct
9	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	11 horses	case
10	as	as	ADP	_	9 such	fixed
11	horses	horse	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 species	conj
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 period	punct
13	over	over	ADP	_	15 period	case
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 period	det
15	period	period	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Observation	appos
16	of	of	ADP	_	18 years	case
17	several	several	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 years	amod
18	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 period	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	observe			the work of other species and horses					nom observation «act transitive»: of=patient
2	work		other species and horses						nom work «act intransitive»: of=agent

Option 4

A single spoken instruction which is retained permanently

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 instruction	det
2	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 instruction	amod
3	spoken	speak	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 instruction	amod
4	instruction	instruction	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 retained	nsubj:pass
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 retained	aux:pass
7	retained	retain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 instruction	acl:relcl
8	permanently	permanently	ADV	_	7 retained	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	speak speech: other	participle							vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	retain	present · passive		a single spoken instruction				permanently property	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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/140-paw-patrol-real-working-dogs/e4/