Exam question 3 · Bambi: real deer, rabbits, skunks and owls

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the defensive conduct of the skunk?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, conduct · To what, where: defensive conduct, skunk

This is exam question 3 of lesson 143 «Bambi: real deer, rabbits, skunks and owls» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 conduct	det
10	defensive	defensive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 conduct	amod
11	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 skunk	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 skunk	det
14	skunk	skunk	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 conduct	nmod
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the defensive conduct of the skunk	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	conduct		the skunk		nom conduct «act transitive»: of=patient

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

The animal discharges its spray at all creatures it encounters, without any preliminary warning whatsoever

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 animal	det
2	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 discharges	nsubj
3	discharges	discharge	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 spray	nmod:poss
5	spray	spray	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 discharges	obj
6	at	at	ADP	_	8 creatures	case
7	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	8 creatures	det
8	creatures	creature	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 discharges	obl
9	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 encounters	nsubj
10	encounters	encounter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 creatures	acl:relcl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 warning	punct
12	without	without	ADP	_	15 warning	case
13	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	15 warning	det
14	preliminary	preliminary	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 warning	compound
15	warning	warning	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 discharges	parataxis
16	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	15 warning	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	discharge	present	the animal	animal's spray		all creatures			vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spray=Theme
2	encounter	present	animal	all creatures not said here					vn encounter-30.5 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer creature=Stimulus

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

The animal is incapable of any discharge

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 animal	det
2	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 incapable	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 incapable	cop
4	incapable	incapable	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 discharge	case
6	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	7 discharge	det
7	discharge	discharge	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 incapable	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	the animal	incapable				of any discharge	tree rules

Option 3

The animal discharges its spray for amusement

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 animal	det
2	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 discharges	nsubj
3	discharges	discharge	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 spray	nmod:poss
5	spray	spray	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 discharges	obj
6	for	for	ADP	_	7 amusement	case
7	amusement	amusement	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 discharges	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	discharge	present	the animal	animal's spray				for amusement	vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spray=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The animal discharges its spray only as a last resort, after warning displays

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 animal	det
2	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 discharges	nsubj
3	discharges	discharge	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 spray	nmod:poss
5	spray	spray	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 discharges	obj
6	only	only	ADV	_	10 resort	advmod
7	as	as	ADP	_	10 resort	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 resort	det
9	last	last	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 resort	amod
10	resort	resort	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 discharges	obl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 displays	punct
12	after	after	ADP	_	14 displays	case
13	warning	warning	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 displays	compound
14	displays	display	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 discharges	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	discharge	present	the animal	animal's spray			after warning displays	as a last resort	vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spray=Theme

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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