Exam question 4 · Elephants: the trunk and everything it does

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the application of dust by an elephant to its own dorsum.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts, dust · What happens: select, establish, concern, apply · To what, where: response, application

This is exam question 4 of lesson 21 «Elephants: the trunk and everything it does» 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 application	det
11	application	application	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 dust	case
13	dust	dust	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 application	nmod
14	by	by	ADP	_	16 elephant	case
15	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 elephant	det
16	elephant	elephant	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obl
17	to	to	ADP	_	20 dorsum	case
18	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	20 dorsum	nmod:poss
19	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 dorsum	amod
20	dorsum	dorsum	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obl
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the application of dust	by a elephant; to elephant's own dorsum	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus application=Experiencer
4	apply		dust			nom application «act intransitive»: of=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

It serves to increase the animal's body mass

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 serves	nsubj
2	serves	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 increase	mark
4	increase	increase	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 serves	xcomp
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 animal	det
6	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 mass	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 animal	case
8	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 mass	compound
9	mass	mass	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 increase	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	serve	present	It						tree rules
2	increase	to-infinitive		the animal's body mass					vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer mass=Patient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

It affords protection against solar radiation and biting insects

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 affords	nsubj
2	affords	afford	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	protection	protection	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 affords	obj
4	against	against	ADP	_	6 radiation	case
5	solar	solar	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 radiation	amod
6	radiation	radiation	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 affords	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 insects	cc
8	biting	bite	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	9 insects	amod
9	insects	insect	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 radiation	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	afford	present	It	protection				against solar radiation and biting insects	tree rules
2	bite	gerund							vn swat-18.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent

Option 3

It promotes the growth of the tusks

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 promotes	nsubj
2	promotes	promote	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 growth	det
4	growth	growth	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 promotes	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 tusks	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 tusks	det
7	tusks	tusk	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 growth	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	promote	present	It	the growth of the tusks					vn promote-102 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent growth=Theme
2	grow		the tusks						nom growth «process intransitive»: of=agent

Option 4

It is undertaken solely for purposes of camouflage against the keeper

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 undertaken	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 undertaken	aux:pass
3	undertaken	undertake	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	solely	solely	ADV	_	3 undertaken	advmod
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 purposes	case
6	purposes	purpose	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 undertaken	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 camouflage	case
8	camouflage	camouflage	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 purposes	nmod
9	against	against	ADP	_	11 keeper	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 keeper	det
11	keeper	keeper	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 undertaken	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	undertake	present · passive		It				for purposes of camouflage; against the keeper; solely property	vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality
2	purpose		camouflage						nom purpose «cognition intransitive»: of=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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