Exam question 4 · Spider-Man: real spider silk and webs

Ascertain the reason for which spiders have not been farmed for silk in the manner of silkworms.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, not farm · To what, where: reason, spiders, manner

This is exam question 4 of lesson 147 «Spider-Man: real spider silk and webs» 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 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 farmed	obl
6	spiders	spider	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 farmed	nsubj:pass
7	have	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 farmed	aux
8	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	10 farmed	advmod
9	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	10 farmed	aux:pass
10	farmed	farm	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 reason	parataxis
11	for	for	ADP	_	12 silk	case
12	silk	silk	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 farmed	obl
13	in	in	ADP	_	15 manner	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 manner	det
15	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 farmed	obl
16	of	of	ADP	_	17 silkworms	case
17	silkworms	silkworm	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 manner	nmod
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	not farm	present · perfect · passive		spiders		the manner of silkworms		for the reason; for silk	vn rear-26.2.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=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 · ← Mova's choice

Spiders cease the production of silk altogether when kept in daylight or in captivity

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Spiders	spider	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 cease	nsubj
2	cease	cease	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 production	det
4	production	production	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 cease	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 silk	case
6	silk	silk	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 production	nmod
7	altogether	altogether	ADV	_	2 cease	advmod
8	when	when	SCONJ	_	9 kept	mark
9	kept	keep	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 cease	advcl
10	in	in	ADP	_	11 daylight	case
11	daylight	daylight	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 kept	obl
12	or	or	CCONJ	_	14 captivity	cc
13	in	in	ADP	_	14 captivity	case
14	captivity	captivity	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 daylight	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	cease	present	Spiders	the production of silk		altogether property	vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality production=Eventuality
2	keep	participle	Spiders not said here		daylight or captivity		vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in daylight=Location
3	produce			silk			nom production «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Spiders kept together fight with and consume one another

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Spiders	spider	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 fight	nsubj
2	kept	keep	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Spiders	acl
3	together	together	ADV	_	2 kept	advmod
4	fight	fight	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	with	with	ADP	_	4 fight	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 consume	cc
7	consume	consume	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 fight	conj
8	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	7 consume	obj
9	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	8 one	fixed

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	keep together	participle		Spiders not said here	together property	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	fight	present	Spiders			vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	consume	infinitive	Spiders not said here	one		vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Asset

Option 3

Spider silk dissolves upon exposure to air

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Spider	spider	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 silk	compound
2	silk	silk	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 dissolves	nsubj
3	dissolves	dissolve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	5 exposure	case
5	exposure	exposure	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 dissolves	obl
6	to	to	ADP	_	7 air	case
7	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 dissolves	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	dissolve	present	Spider silk					upon exposure; to air result	vn break-45.1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Patient to air=Result

Option 4

Spider silk is too adhesive for any use

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Spider	spider	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 silk	compound
2	silk	silk	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 adhesive	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 adhesive	cop
4	too	too	ADV	_	5 adhesive	advmod
5	adhesive	adhesive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	for	for	ADP	_	8 use	case
7	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	8 use	det
8	use	use	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 adhesive	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Spider silk					for any use; adhesive 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.

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