Exam question 2 · Deserts of the world: fennec foxes, fog-drinking beetles,…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the method by which the Namib fog-basking beetle obtains water?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: Namib, fog basking beetle · What happens: follow, characteris, bask, beetle, obtain · To what, where: method, water

This is exam question 2 of lesson 182 «Deserts of the world: fennec foxes, fog-drinking beetles, camels and silver ants» 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 method	det
10	method	method	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	by	by	ADP	_	12 which	case
12	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	19 obtains	obl
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 beetle	det
14	Namib	Namib	PROPN	Number=Sing	18 beetle	nsubj
15	fog	fog	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 beetle	compound
16	-	-	PUNCT	_	15 fog	punct
17	basking	bask	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	18 beetle	amod
18	beetle	beetle	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 obtains	nsubj
19	obtains	obtain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 method	acl:relcl
20	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 obtains	obj
21	?	?	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 method	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	bask	gerund				vn marvel-31.3 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer
4	beetle		Namib			tree rules
5	obtain	present	the fog basking beetle	water	by the method	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

Droplets condense from fog upon its back and run down to its mouth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Droplets	droplet	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 condense	nsubj
2	condense	condense	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	4 fog	case
4	fog	fog	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 condense	obl
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 back	case
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 back	nmod:poss
7	back	back	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 condense	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 run	cc
9	run	run	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 condense	conj
10	down	down	ADV	_	9 run	advmod
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	9 run	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	condense	present	Droplets			fog		upon fog's back	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
2	run down	infinitive	Droplets not said here					to back's mouth result; down property	vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to mouth=Result

Option 2

It extracts moisture exclusively from cactus stems

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 extracts	nsubj
2	extracts	extract	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	moisture	moisture	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 extracts	obj
4	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	2 extracts	advmod
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 stems	case
6	cactus	cactus	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 stems	compound
7	stems	stem	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 extracts	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	extract	present	It	moisture		cactus stems		exclusively property	vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent moisture=Theme from stem=Initial_Location

Option 3

It excavates subterranean wells

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	subterranean	subterranean	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 wells	compound
4	wells	well	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 excavates	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	excavate	present	It	subterranean wells					vn search-35.2 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent well=Location

Option 4

It consumes the blood of larger animals

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 blood	det
4	blood	blood	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 consumes	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 animals	case
6	larger	large	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	7 animals	amod
7	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 blood	nmod

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

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/182-deserts-of-the-world-fennec-foxes-fog-drinking-beetles-camels-and-silver-ants/e2/