Exam question 2 · Myth check: are elephants scared of mice?

Identify the principal reason for which elephants avoid the swarming of bees.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, elephants · What happens: identify, avoid · To what, where: principal reason, swarming

This is exam question 2 of lesson 149 «Myth check: are elephants scared of mice?» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 avoid	obl
7	elephants	elephant	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 avoid	nsubj
8	avoid	avoid	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl:relcl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 swarming	det
10	swarming	swarming	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 avoid	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 bees	case
12	bees	bee	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 swarming	nmod
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	avoid	present	elephants	the swarming of bees				for the principal reason	vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent swarming=Location

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 right answer

Bees are able to sting the soft skin within the trunk and about the eyes

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Bees	bee	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 able	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 able	cop
3	able	able	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 sting	mark
5	sting	sting	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 able	xcomp
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 skin	det
7	soft	soft	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 skin	amod
8	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 sting	obj
9	within	within	ADP	_	11 trunk	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 trunk	det
11	trunk	trunk	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 sting	obl
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 eyes	cc
13	about	about	ADP	_	15 eyes	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 eyes	det
15	eyes	eye	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 trunk	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Bees					able property	tree rules
2	sting	to-infinitive	Bees not said here	the soft skin				within the trunk and the eyes	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus skin=Experiencer

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

Bees consume the vegetation upon which elephants feed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Bees	bee	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 consume	nsubj
2	consume	consume	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 vegetation	det
4	vegetation	vegetation	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 consume	obj
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 feed	obl
7	elephants	elephant	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 feed	nsubj
8	feed	feed	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 vegetation	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	consume	present	Bees	the vegetation					vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent vegetation=Asset
2	feed	present	elephants					upon the vegetation	vn gorge-39.6 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=Agent

Option 3

Bees are able to penetrate the thick skin upon any part of the elephant's body

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Bees	bee	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 able	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 able	cop
3	able	able	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 penetrate	mark
5	penetrate	penetrate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 able	xcomp
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 skin	det
7	thick	thick	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 skin	amod
8	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 penetrate	obj
9	upon	upon	ADP	_	11 part	case
10	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	11 part	det
11	part	part	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 penetrate	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	16 body	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 elephant	det
14	elephant	elephant	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 body	nmod:poss
15	's	's	PART	_	14 elephant	case
16	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 part	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Bees					able property	tree rules
2	penetrate	to-infinitive	Bees not said here	the thick skin				upon any part of the elephant's body	vn poke-19 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent skin=Patient

Option 4

Bees convey mice upon their bodies

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Bees	bee	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 convey	nsubj
2	convey	convey	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	mice	mouse	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 convey	obj
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	6 bodies	case
5	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 bodies	nmod:poss
6	bodies	body	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 convey	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	convey	present	Bees	mice				upon Bees's bodies	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent mouse=Topic

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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