Exam question 4 · Madagascar: lemurs of every kind and the fossa

Ascertain the significance of the capacity of the golden bamboo lemur to consume bamboo containing cyanide.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, bamboo · What happens: ascertain, consume, contain · To what, where: significance, bamboo, cyanide

This is exam question 4 of lesson 163 «Madagascar: lemurs of every kind and the fossa» 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 significance	det
3	significance	significance	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 capacity	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 capacity	det
6	capacity	capacity	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 significance	nmod
7	of	of	ADP	_	11 lemur	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 lemur	det
9	golden	golden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 lemur	amod
10	bamboo	bamboo	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 lemur	compound
11	lemur	lemur	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 capacity	nmod
12	to	to	PART	_	13 consume	mark
13	consume	consume	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	11 lemur	acl
14	bamboo	bamboo	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 consume	obj
15	containing	contain	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	14 bamboo	acl
16	cyanide	cyanide	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 containing	obj
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the significance of the capacity of the golden bamboo lemur	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent significance=Topic
2	consume	to-infinitive	you not said here	bamboo	vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bamboo=Asset
3	contain	gerund	bamboo not said here	cyanide	vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot cyanide=Theme

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 colouring of its fur to a golden hue that hides it in the bamboo forests

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 colouring	det
2	colouring	colouring	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 fur	case
4	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 fur	nmod:poss
5	fur	fur	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 colouring	nmod
6	to	to	ADP	_	9 hue	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 hue	det
8	golden	golden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 hue	amod
9	hue	hue	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 colouring	nmod
10	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 hides	nsubj
11	hides	hide	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 hue	acl:relcl
12	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 hides	obj
13	in	in	ADP	_	16 forests	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 forests	det
15	bamboo	bamboo	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 forests	compound
16	forests	forest	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 hides	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hide	present	a golden hue	hue		the bamboo forests			vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent it=Patient in forest=Location

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Access to a food resource for which there exists little competition

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Access	access	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 exists	nsubj
2	to	to	ADP	_	5 resource	case
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 resource	det
4	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 resource	compound
5	resource	resource	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Access	nmod
6	for	for	ADP	_	7 which	case
7	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 there	obl
8	there	there	ADV	PronType=Dem	5 resource	advmod
9	exists	exist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	little	little	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 competition	amod
11	competition	competition	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 exists	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exist	present	Access to a food resource	little competition					tree rules

Option 3

The ability to dispense with water entirely

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 ability	det
2	ability	ability	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 dispense	mark
4	dispense	dispense	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 ability	acl
5	with	with	ADP	_	6 water	case
6	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 dispense	obl
7	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	4 dispense	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	dispense	to-infinitive						with water; entirely property	tree rules

Option 4

The acquisition of venom for the purposes of defence

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 acquisition	det
2	acquisition	acquisition	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 venom	case
4	venom	venom	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 acquisition	nmod
5	for	for	ADP	_	7 purposes	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 purposes	det
7	purposes	purpose	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 acquisition	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 defence	case
9	defence	defence	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 purposes	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	acquire			venom				for the purposes of defence	nom acquisition «act transitive»: of=patient for=obl
2	purpose		defence						nom purpose «cognition intransitive»: of=agent

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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