Exam question 2 · Record-breakers: the fastest and the slowest

Ascertain the reason for which the cheetah is incapable of maintaining its maximum speed for an extended period.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, cheetah · What happens: ascertain, be, maintain · To what, where: reason, maximum speed

This is exam question 2 of lesson 185 «Record-breakers: the fastest and the slowest» 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 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 incapable	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 cheetah	det
7	cheetah	cheetah	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 incapable	nsubj
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 incapable	cop
9	incapable	incapable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 reason	acl
10	of	of	SCONJ	_	11 maintaining	mark
11	maintaining	maintain	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	9 incapable	advcl
12	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 speed	nmod:poss
13	maximum	maximum	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 speed	amod
14	speed	speed	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 maintaining	obj
15	for	for	ADP	_	18 period	case
16	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	18 period	det
17	extended	extended	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 period	amod
18	period	period	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 maintaining	obl
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	is	present	the cheetah		for the reason; incapable property	tree rules
3	maintain	gerund	the cheetah not said here	cheetah's maximum speed	for a extended period	vn declare-29.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent speed=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

Its body temperature rises excessively

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 temperature	nmod:poss
2	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 temperature	compound
3	temperature	temperature	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 rises	nsubj
4	rises	rise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	excessively	excessively	ADV	_	4 rises	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rise	present	Its body temperature					excessively property	vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

Its claws become blunt

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 claws	nmod:poss
2	claws	claw	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 become	nsubj
3	become	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	blunt	blunt	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 become	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	become	present	Its claws					blunt property	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient

Option 3

It lacks lungs of any kind

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 lacks	nsubj
2	lacks	lack	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	lungs	lung	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 lacks	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 kind	case
5	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	6 kind	det
6	kind	kind	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 lungs	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lack	present	It	lungs of any kind					tree rules

Option 4

It is compelled to stop and feed upon the carcass of its prey

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	3 compelled	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 compelled	aux:pass
3	compelled	compel	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 stop	mark
5	stop	stop	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 compelled	xcomp
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 feed	cc
7	feed	feed	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 stop	conj
8	upon	upon	ADP	_	10 carcass	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 carcass	det
10	carcass	carcass	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 feed	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 prey	case
12	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 prey	nmod:poss
13	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 carcass	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	compel	present · passive	It		vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result
2	stop	to-infinitive			vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
3	feed	infinitive		upon the carcass of carcass's prey	vn gorge-39.6 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/185-record-breakers-the-fastest-and-the-slowest/e2/