Exam question 3 · Dogs: from wolves to hundreds of breeds

Ascertain the principal cause of laboured breathing in the pug and the bulldog.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, labour, breathe · To what, where: principal cause, pug

This is exam question 3 of lesson 192 «Dogs: from wolves to hundreds of breeds» 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	4 cause	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 cause	amod
4	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	of	of	SCONJ	_	6 laboured	mark
6	laboured	labour	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 cause	acl
7	breathing	breathe	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 laboured	advcl
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 pug	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 pug	det
10	pug	pug	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 breathing	obl
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 bulldog	cc
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 bulldog	det
13	bulldog	bulldog	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 pug	conj
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the principal cause		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cause=Topic
2	labour	participle		the principal cause not said here		vn work-73.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	breathe	gerund			the pug and the bulldog	vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V»: 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 · ✓ the right answer

The flattening of the face through breeding, which constricts the airways

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 flattening	det
2	flattening	flattening	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 constricts	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 face	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 face	det
5	face	face	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 flattening	nmod
6	through	through	ADP	_	7 breeding	case
7	breeding	breeding	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 flattening	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 constricts	punct
9	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 constricts	nsubj
10	constricts	constrict	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 airways	det
12	airways	airway	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 constricts	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	constrict	present	the flattening of the face through breeding	the airways					vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent airway=Patient

Option 2

The habitual consumption of cold water

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 consumption	det
2	habitual	habitual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 consumption	amod
3	consumption	consumption	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 water	case
5	cold	cold	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 water	amod
6	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 consumption	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	consume			cold water					nom consumption «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

An inherited fondness for snoring, passed down unchanged from the wolf

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 fondness	det
2	inherited	inherit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 fondness	amod
3	fondness	fondness	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 unchanged	nsubj:pass
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 snoring	case
5	snoring	snoring	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 fondness	nmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 passed	punct
7	passed	pass	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 unchanged	aux:pass
8	down	down	ADP	_	7 passed	compound:prt
9	unchanged	unchang	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
10	from	from	ADP	_	12 wolf	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 wolf	det
12	wolf	wolf	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 unchanged	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	inherit	participle							vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	unchang	participle · passive		a inherited fondness for snoring		the wolf			tree rules

Option 4

The excessive length of the tongue, which blocks the throat during sleep

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 length	det
2	excessive	excessive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 length	amod
3	length	length	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 blocks	nsubj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 tongue	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 tongue	det
6	tongue	tongue	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 length	nmod
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 blocks	punct
8	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 blocks	nsubj
9	blocks	block	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 throat	det
11	throat	throat	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 blocks	obj
12	during	during	ADP	_	13 sleep	case
13	sleep	sleep	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 blocks	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	block	present	the excessive length of the tongue	the throat			during sleep		vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer throat=Theme

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/192-dogs-from-wolves-to-hundreds-of-breeds/e3/