Exam question 1 · Reading a dog: tails, play bows, growls and staying safe

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the significance of a wagging tail in the domestic dog?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris, wag · To what, where: significance

This is exam question 1 of lesson 194 «Reading a dog: tails, play bows, growls and staying safe» 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 significance	det
10	significance	significance	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 tail	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 tail	det
13	wagging	wag	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	14 tail	amod
14	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 significance	nmod
15	in	in	ADP	_	18 dog	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 dog	det
17	domestic	domestic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 dog	amod
18	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obl
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the significance of a wagging tail	of the following statements; in the domestic dog; accurately property	tree rules
3	wag	gerund			vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: 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

It invariably signifies aggression

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 signifies	nsubj
2	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	3 signifies	advmod
3	signifies	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	aggression	aggression	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 signifies	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signify	present	It	aggression				invariably property	vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot aggression=Theme

Option 2

It invariably signifies contentment

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 signifies	nsubj
2	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	3 signifies	advmod
3	signifies	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	contentment	contentment	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 signifies	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signify	present	It	contentment				invariably property	vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot contentment=Theme

Option 3

It possesses no communicative significance whatsoever

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	5 significance	det
4	communicative	communicative	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 significance	amod
5	significance	significance	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 possesses	obj
6	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	2 possesses	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	present	It	no communicative significance				whatsoever property	vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot significance=Theme

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

Its meaning depends upon the manner of the wag and the posture of the whole animal

The tree, 16 words

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 meaning	nmod:poss
2	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 depends	nsubj
3	depends	depend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	6 manner	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 manner	det
6	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 depends	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 wag	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 wag	det
9	wag	wag	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 manner	nmod
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 posture	cc
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 posture	det
12	posture	posture	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 wag	conj
13	of	of	ADP	_	16 animal	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 animal	det
15	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 animal	amod
16	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 posture	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	depend	present	Its meaning					upon the manner of the wag and the posture of the whole animal	vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S_ING»: agent=Agent
2	mean		Its = it						nom meaning «communication transitive»: poss=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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