Exam question 3 · Amazon giants and tall tales: anacondas, caimans, electric…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the reports of the candiru attacking human beings?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: reports · What happens: follow, characteris, attack, report · To what, where: reports, human beings, candiru

This is exam question 3 of lesson 158 «Amazon giants and tall tales: anacondas, caimans, electric eels and the candiru» 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 reports	det
10	reports	report	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 candiru	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 candiru	det
13	candiru	candiru	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 reports	nmod
14	attacking	attack	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 reports	acl
15	human	human	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 beings	amod
16	beings	being	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 attacking	obj
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the reports of the candiru	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	attack	gerund	the reports of the candiru not said here	human beings		vn attack-60.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent being=Patient
4	report			the candiru		nom report «communication 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

They concern a fish of the dimensions of a dolphin

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 concern	nsubj
2	concern	concern	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 fish	det
4	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 concern	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 dimensions	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 dimensions	det
7	dimensions	dimension	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 fish	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 dolphin	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 dolphin	det
10	dolphin	dolphin	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 dimensions	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

They rest upon very few unclear reports, most of which scientists regard with doubt

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 rest	nsubj
2	rest	rest	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 reports	case
4	very	very	ADV	_	5 few	advmod
5	few	few	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 reports	amod
6	unclear	unclear	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 reports	amod
7	reports	report	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 rest	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 regard	punct
9	most	most	ADJ	Degree=Sup	13 regard	nsubj
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 which	case
11	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 regard	obl
12	scientists	scientist	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 regard	nsubj
13	regard	regard	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 rest	conj
14	with	with	ADP	_	15 doubt	case
15	doubt	doubt	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 regard	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rest	present	They			few unclear reports			vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon report=Location
2	regard	present	most					with doubt	vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 3

They are reported exclusively in respect of adults bathing in the sea

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 reported	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 reported	aux:pass
3	reported	report	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	3 reported	advmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 respect	case
6	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 reported	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 adults	case
8	adults	adult	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 respect	nmod
9	bathing	bath	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 adults	acl
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 sea	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 sea	det
12	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 bathing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	report	present · passive		They	respect of adults	exclusively property	vn prosecute-33.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient
2	bath	gerund	adults not said here		the sea		tree rules
3	respect			adults			nom respect «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

They are confirmed by numerous experiments

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 confirmed	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 confirmed	aux:pass
3	confirmed	confirm	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 experiments	case
5	numerous	numerous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 experiments	amod
6	experiments	experiment	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 confirmed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	confirm	present · passive	numerous experiments	They					vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot subject=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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