Exam question 1 · Masters of camouflage

Identify the means by which the cuttlefish alters its colouration.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, the, cuttlefish · What happens: identify, mean, alter · To what, where: colouration

This is exam question 1 of lesson 189 «Masters of camouflage» 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 means	nsubj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Identify	ccomp
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 alters	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 cuttlefish	det
7	cuttlefish	cuttlefish	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 alters	nsubj
8	alters	alter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 means	parataxis
9	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 colouration	nmod:poss
10	colouration	colouration	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 alters	obj
11	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	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		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
3	alter	present	the cuttlefish	cuttlefish's colouration	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent colouration=Patient

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

It applies its own ink to its skin

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 applies	nsubj
2	applies	apply	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 ink	nmod:poss
4	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 ink	amod
5	ink	ink	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 applies	obj
6	to	to	ADP	_	8 skin	case
7	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 skin	nmod:poss
8	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 applies	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	apply	present	It	its own ink				to ink's skin	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ink=Theme

Option 2

It replaces its skin entirely

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 replaces	nsubj
2	replaces	replace	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 skin	nmod:poss
4	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 replaces	obj
5	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	2 replaces	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	replace	present	It	its skin				entirely property	vn substitute-13.6.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme skin=Co-Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Specialised skin cells expand and contract to display different pigments

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Specialised	specialis	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 cells	amod
2	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 cells	compound
3	cells	cell	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 expand	nsubj
4	expand	expand	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 contract	cc
6	contract	contract	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 expand	conj
7	to	to	PART	_	8 display	mark
8	display	display	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 contract	xcomp
9	different	different	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 pigments	amod
10	pigments	pigment	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 display	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	specialis	participle			tree rules
2	expand	present	Specialised skin cells		vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
3	contract	present	Specialised skin cells not said here		vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent clause=Attribute
4	display	to-infinitive	Specialised skin cells not said here	different pigments	vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pigment=Theme

Option 4

It ingests pigmented food

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 ingests	nsubj
2	ingests	ingest	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	pigmented	pigment	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 food	amod
4	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 ingests	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ingest	present	It	pigmented food					vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Goal food=Theme
2	pigment	participle							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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