Exam question 3 · Myth check: are elephants scared of mice?

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the charge of an elephant with ears extended?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, extend, charge · To what, where: charge, ears, elephant

This is exam question 3 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	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 charge	det
10	charge	charge	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 elephant	case
12	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 elephant	det
13	elephant	elephant	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 charge	nmod
14	with	with	ADP	_	15 ears	case
15	ears	ear	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
16	extended	extend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	15 ears	acl
17	?	?	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 charge of a elephant	of the following statements; with ears; accurately property	tree rules
3	extend	participle	ears not said here		vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
4	charge		a elephant		nom charge «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

It is an expression of contentment

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 expression	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 expression	cop
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 expression	det
4	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 contentment	case
6	contentment	contentment	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 expression	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a expression				of contentment	tree rules

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

It is frequently a display which terminates before contact

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 display	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 display	cop
3	frequently	frequently	ADV	_	5 display	advmod
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 display	det
5	display	display	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 terminates	nsubj
7	terminates	terminate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 display	acl:relcl
8	before	before	ADP	_	9 contact	case
9	contact	contact	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 terminates	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a display				frequently property	tree rules
2	terminate	present	a display				before contact		vn stop-55.4-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality

Option 3

It precedes a period of sleep

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 precedes	nsubj
2	precedes	precede	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 period	det
4	period	period	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 precedes	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 sleep	case
6	sleep	sleep	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 period	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	precede	present	It	a period of sleep					vn contiguous_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme period=Co-Theme

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

It invariably concludes in physical contact

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 concludes	nsubj
2	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	3 concludes	advmod
3	concludes	conclude	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 contact	case
5	physical	physical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 contact	amod
6	contact	contact	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 concludes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	conclude	present	It			physical contact		invariably property	vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality

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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