Exam question 1 · The Australian outback: red kangaroos, emus, thorny devils…

Identify the principal means by which the thorny devil obtains water within an arid environment.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, principal, thorny devil · What happens: identify, mean, obtain · To what, where: water

This is exam question 1 of lesson 165 «The Australian outback: red kangaroos, emus, thorny devils and runaway camels and toads» 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	3 principal	det
3	principal	principal	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 means	nsubj
4	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Identify	ccomp
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 obtains	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 devil	det
8	thorny	thorny	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 devil	amod
9	devil	devil	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 obtains	nsubj
10	obtains	obtain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 means	parataxis
11	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 obtains	obj
12	within	within	ADP	_	15 environment	case
13	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 environment	det
14	arid	arid	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 environment	amod
15	environment	environment	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 obtains	obl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	mean	present	the principal			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
3	obtain	present	the thorny devil	water	within a arid environment	vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=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 right answer

Fine grooves between its spines conduct moisture from damp sand to its mouth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Fine	fine	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 grooves	amod
2	grooves	groove	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 conduct	nsubj
3	between	between	ADP	_	5 spines	case
4	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 spines	nmod:poss
5	spines	spine	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 grooves	nmod
6	conduct	conduct	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	moisture	moisture	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 conduct	obj
8	from	from	ADP	_	10 sand	case
9	damp	damp	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 sand	amod
10	sand	sand	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 conduct	obl
11	to	to	ADP	_	13 mouth	case
12	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 mouth	nmod:poss
13	mouth	mouth	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 conduct	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	conduct	present	Fine grooves between its spines	moisture		damp sand		to sand's mouth	vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent moisture=Theme from sand=Destination

Option 2

It excavates deep wells in the sand with its strong foreclaws during the night

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 excavates	nsubj
2	excavates	excavate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	deep	deep	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 wells	amod
4	wells	well	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 excavates	obj
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 sand	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 sand	det
7	sand	sand	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 excavates	obl
8	with	with	ADP	_	11 foreclaws	case
9	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 foreclaws	nmod:poss
10	strong	strong	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 foreclaws	amod
11	foreclaws	foreclaw	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 excavates	obl
12	during	during	ADP	_	14 night	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 night	det
14	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 excavates	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	excavate	present	It	deep wells		the sand	night	with sand's strong foreclaws	vn search-35.2 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent well=Location

Option 3

It consumes the dew of flowers exclusively

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 consumes	nsubj
2	consumes	consume	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 dew	det
4	dew	dew	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 consumes	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 flowers	case
6	flowers	flower	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 dew	nmod
7	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	2 consumes	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	consume	present	It	the dew of flowers				exclusively property	vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dew=Asset

Option 4

It dispenses with water entirely throughout its life

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 dispenses	nsubj
2	dispenses	dispense	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	with	with	ADP	_	4 water	case
4	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 dispenses	obl
5	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	2 dispenses	advmod
6	throughout	throughout	ADP	_	8 life	case
7	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 life	nmod:poss
8	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 dispenses	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	dispense	present	It				throughout water's life	with water; entirely 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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/165-the-australian-outback-kangaroos-emus-thorny-devils-and-runaway-toads/e1/