Exam question 3 · Shrek's dragon: real «dragons» and lizards, and why nothin…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the reproduction observed in female Komodo dragons in British zoos?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris, observe · To what, where: reproduction

This is exam question 3 of lesson 146 «Shrek's dragon: real «dragons» and lizards, and why nothing breathes fire» 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	10 reproduction	det
10	reproduction	reproduction	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	observed	observe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 reproduction	acl
12	in	in	ADP	_	15 dragons	case
13	female	female	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 dragons	amod
14	Komodo	Komodo	PROPN	Number=Sing	15 dragons	compound
15	dragons	dragon	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 observed	obl
16	in	in	ADP	_	18 zoos	case
17	British	British	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 zoos	amod
18	zoos	zoo	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 dragons	nmod
19	?	?	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 reproduction	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	observe	participle	the reproduction not said here	in female Komodo dragons in British zoos	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=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 right answer

Eggs were laid and hatched in the absence of any male, by parthenogenesis

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Eggs	egg	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 laid	nsubj:pass
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 laid	aux:pass
3	laid	lay	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 hatched	cc
5	hatched	hatch	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 laid	conj
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 absence	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 absence	det
8	absence	absence	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 hatched	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 male	case
10	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	11 male	det
11	male	male	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 absence	nmod
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 parthenogenesis	punct
13	by	by	ADP	_	14 parthenogenesis	case
14	parthenogenesis	parthenogenesis	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 laid	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	lay	past · passive	parthenogenesis	Eggs		vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Result
2	hatch	participle	parthenogenesis not said here		the absence of any male	vn grow-26.2.1 «NP.patient V PP.product»: agent=Patient
3	absent			any male		nom absence «state transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

No eggs were produced in the absence of a male

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	DET	PronType=Neg	2 eggs	det
2	eggs	egg	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 produced	nsubj:pass
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 produced	aux:pass
4	produced	produce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 absence	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 absence	det
7	absence	absence	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 produced	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 male	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 male	det
10	male	male	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 absence	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	produce	past · passive		no eggs		the absence of a male			vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: subject=Result
2	absent			a male					nom absence «state transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

Eggs were laid by a male and incubated by a female

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Eggs	egg	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 laid	nsubj:pass
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 laid	aux:pass
3	laid	lay	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 male	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 male	det
6	male	male	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 laid	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 incubated	cc
8	incubated	incubate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 laid	conj
9	by	by	ADP	_	11 female	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 female	det
11	female	female	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 incubated	obl:agent

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lay	past · passive	a male	Eggs					vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Result
2	incubate	participle	a male not said here						tree rules

Option 4

The eggs were subsequently found to be those of crocodiles, introduced into the enclosure in error

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 eggs	det
2	eggs	egg	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 found	nsubj:pass
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 found	aux:pass
4	subsequently	subsequently	ADV	_	5 found	advmod
5	found	find	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	to	to	PART	_	8 those	mark
7	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	8 those	cop
8	those	that	PRON	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	5 found	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 crocodiles	case
10	crocodiles	crocodile	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 those	nmod
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 introduced	punct
12	introduced	introduce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 found	conj
13	into	into	ADP	_	15 enclosure	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 enclosure	det
15	enclosure	enclosure	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 introduced	obl
16	in	in	ADP	_	17 error	case
17	error	error	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 enclosure	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	find	past · passive	the eggs		subsequently property	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic
2	is a	to-infinitive	those		of crocodiles	tree rules
3	introduce	participle		the enclosure in error		vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=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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