Test 6 · Elephants: the trunk and everything it does

Why might a zoo elephant splash mud over itself even though it isn't dirty?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: splash mud · What happens: not be

This is test 6 of lesson 21 «Elephants: the trunk and everything it does» of the biology course of Mova's primary school. 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	Why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	15 dirty	advmod
2	might	might	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	15 dirty	aux
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 mud	det
4	zoo	zoo	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 elephant	compound
5	elephant	elephant	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 splash	compound
6	splash	splash	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 mud	compound
7	mud	mud	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 dirty	nsubj
8	over	over	ADP	_	9 itself	case
9	itself	itself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Emp Reflex=Yes	7 mud	nmod
10	even	even	ADV	_	15 dirty	advmod
11	though	though	SCONJ	_	15 dirty	mark
12	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 dirty	nsubj
13	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 dirty	cop
14	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	15 dirty	advmod
15	dirty	dirty	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	15 dirty	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not is	might	a splash mud over mud					dirty property	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 is hiding from the zookeeper

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 hiding	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 hiding	aux
3	hiding	hide	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 zookeeper	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 zookeeper	det
6	zookeeper	zookeeper	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 hiding	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hide	present · progressive	It			the zookeeper			vn concealment-16-1 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent from zookeeper=Beneficiary

Option 2

Its skin is so thick and tough that it feels nothing anyway

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 skin	nmod:poss
2	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 thick	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 thick	cop
4	so	so	ADV	_	5 thick	advmod
5	thick	thick	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 tough	cc
7	tough	tough	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 thick	conj
8	that	that	SCONJ	_	10 feels	mark
9	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 feels	nsubj
10	feels	feel	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 thick	advcl
11	nothing	nothing	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	10 feels	obj
12	anyway	anyway	ADV	_	10 feels	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	present	Its skin		thick property	tree rules
2	be		Its skin not said here			tree rules
3	feel	present	skin	nothing	anyway property	vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Theme

Option 3

It needs the mud to make its tusks grow

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 needs	nsubj
2	needs	need	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 mud	det
4	mud	mud	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 needs	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 make	mark
6	make	make	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 needs	advcl
7	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 tusks	nmod:poss
8	tusks	tusk	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 grow	nsubj
9	grow	grow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 make	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	need	present	It	the mud	vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot mud=Theme
2	make	to-infinitive			tree rules
3	grow	present	mud's tusks		vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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

Mud and dust protect its skin and the wrinkles hold water to cool it

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Mud	mud	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 protect	nsubj
2	and	and	CCONJ	_	3 dust	cc
3	dust	dust	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Mud	conj
4	protect	protect	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 skin	nmod:poss
6	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 protect	obj
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 hold	cc
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 wrinkles	det
9	wrinkles	wrinkle	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 hold	nsubj
10	hold	hold	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 protect	conj
11	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 hold	obj
12	to	to	PART	_	13 cool	mark
13	cool	cool	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 hold	advcl
14	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 cool	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	protect	present	Mud and dust	dust's skin	vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent skin=Beneficiary
2	hold	present	the wrinkles	water	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Theme
3	cool	to-infinitive	the wrinkles not said here	water	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent it=Patient

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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