Exam question 3 · The Arctic Ocean: walruses, bowheads, the 400-year shark a…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the so-called unicorn horns traded in medieval Europe?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: unicorn horns · What happens: follow, characteris, call, trade · To what, where: unicorn horns, medieval Europe · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 3 of lesson 169 «The Arctic Ocean: walruses, bowheads, the 400-year shark and the unicorn's tooth» 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	14 horns	det
10	so	so	ADV	_	12 called	advmod
11	-	-	PUNCT	_	10 so	punct
12	called	call	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 horns	acl
13	unicorn	unicorn	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 horns	compound
14	horns	horn	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 traded	nsubj
15	traded	trade	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 characterises	parataxis
16	in	in	ADP	_	18 Europe	case
17	medieval	medieval	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 Europe	amod
18	Europe	Europe	PROPN	Number=Sing	15 traded	obl
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund					vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	call	participle		the unicorn horns not said here			vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
4	trade	past	the unicorn horns		medieval Europe		vn exchange-13.6.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

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

They were fashioned from walrus whiskers

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 fashioned	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 fashioned	cop
3	fashioned	fashioned	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 whiskers	case
5	walrus	walrus	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 whiskers	compound
6	whiskers	whisker	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 fashioned	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	They			walrus whiskers		fashioned property	tree rules

Option 2

They were the antlers of reindeer

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	4 antlers	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 antlers	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 antlers	det
4	antlers	antler	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 reindeer	case
6	reindeer	reindeer	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 antlers	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	They	the antlers				of reindeer	tree rules

Option 3

They were the horns of a now extinct horse of the northern forests

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	4 horns	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 horns	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 horns	det
4	horns	horn	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	9 horse	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 horse	det
7	now	now	ADV	PronType=Dem	8 extinct	advmod
8	extinct	extinct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 horse	amod
9	horse	horse	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 horns	nmod
10	of	of	ADP	_	13 forests	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 forests	det
12	northern	northern	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 forests	amod
13	forests	forest	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 horse	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	They	the horns				of a extinct horse of the northern forests	tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

They were in fact the spiral tusks of the narwhal, which are teeth

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	4 fact	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 fact	cop
3	in	in	ADP	_	4 fact	case
4	fact	fact	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 tusks	det
6	spiral	spiral	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 tusks	amod
7	tusks	tusk	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 fact	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 narwhal	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 narwhal	det
10	narwhal	narwhal	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 tusks	nmod
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 teeth	punct
12	which	which	DET	PronType=Int	14 teeth	det
13	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 teeth	cop
14	teeth	tooth	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 tusks	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	They			fact		the spiral tusks of the narwhal and which teeth nmod	tree rules
2	is a	present	They not said here	which teeth					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.

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