Exam question 4 · Myths and cartoons put right: Tom and Jerry, elephants and…

Ascertain the reason for which a snake is popularly, though erroneously, believed to hypnotise its prey.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, snake · What happens: ascertain, be, believe, hypnotise · To what, where: reason, prey

This is exam question 4 of lesson 191 «Myths and cartoons put right: Tom and Jerry, elephants and mice, ostriches and more» 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 popularly	obl
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 snake	det
7	snake	snake	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 popularly	nsubj
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 popularly	cop
9	popularly	popularly	ADV	_	3 reason	advmod
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 believed	punct
11	though	though	SCONJ	_	14 believed	mark
12	erroneously	erroneously	ADV	_	14 believed	advmod
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 erroneously	punct
14	believed	believe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Ascertain	advcl
15	to	to	PART	_	16 hypnotise	mark
16	hypnotise	hypnotise	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	14 believed	xcomp
17	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	18 prey	nmod:poss
18	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 hypnotise	obj
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	a snake		for the reason; popularly property	tree rules
3	believe	participle	you not said here		erroneously property	vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus
4	hypnotise	to-infinitive	you not said here	snake's prey		tree rules

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

It releases a vapour that induces sleep

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 releases	nsubj
2	releases	release	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 vapour	det
4	vapour	vapour	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 releases	obj
5	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 induces	nsubj
6	induces	induce	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 vapour	acl:relcl
7	sleep	sleep	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 induces	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	release	present	It	a vapour					vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Causer vapour=Source
2	induce	present	a vapour	sleep					vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sleep=Patient

Option 2

It rotates its eyes in a spiral

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 rotates	nsubj
2	rotates	rotate	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 eyes	nmod:poss
4	eyes	eye	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 rotates	obj
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 spiral	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 spiral	det
7	spiral	spiral	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 rotates	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rotate	present	It	its eyes		a spiral			vn modes_of_being_with_motion-47.3 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location eye=Theme

Option 3

It emits a high sound which is inaudible to its prey and which causes it to stand quite still

The tree, 19 words

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 emits	nsubj
2	emits	emit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 sound	det
4	high	high	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 sound	amod
5	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 emits	obj
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 inaudible	nsubj
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 inaudible	cop
8	inaudible	inaudible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 sound	acl:relcl
9	to	to	ADP	_	11 prey	case
10	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 prey	nmod:poss
11	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 inaudible	obl
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 causes	cc
13	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	14 causes	nsubj
14	causes	cause	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 emits	conj
15	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 causes	obj
16	to	to	PART	_	17 stand	mark
17	stand	stand	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	14 causes	xcomp
18	quite	quite	ADV	_	19 still	advmod
19	still	still	ADV	_	17 stand	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	emit	present	It	a high sound			vn substance_emission-43.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Source sound=Theme
2	is	present	a high sound			to sound's prey; inaudible property	tree rules
3	cause	present		sound			tree rules
4	stand	to-infinitive	sound not said here		still		vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

It possesses no eyelids and therefore stares without blinking

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 possesses	nsubj
2	possesses	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	4 eyelids	det
4	eyelids	eyelid	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 possesses	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 stares	cc
6	therefore	therefore	ADV	_	7 stares	advmod
7	stares	stare	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 possesses	conj
8	without	without	SCONJ	_	9 blinking	mark
9	blinking	blink	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	7 stares	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	possess	present	It	no eyelids		vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot eyelid=Theme
2	stare	present			therefore property	vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent
3	blink	gerund				vn hiccup-40.1.1 «NP V»: 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.

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