Exam question 1 · Chickens: eggs, pecking order and living dinosaurs

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the laying of eggs by the domestic hen?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: laying

This is exam question 1 of lesson 212 «Chickens: eggs, pecking order and living dinosaurs» 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 laying	det
10	laying	laying	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 eggs	case
12	eggs	egg	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 laying	nmod
13	by	by	ADP	_	16 hen	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 hen	det
15	domestic	domestic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 hen	amod
16	hen	hen	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obl
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the laying of eggs				of the following statements; by the domestic hen; accurately 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 · ← Mova's choice

Eggs are laid solely in the presence of a rooster, a hen kept alone ceasing to lay altogether

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Eggs	egg	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 laid	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 laid	aux:pass
3	laid	lay	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	solely	solely	ADV	_	3 laid	advmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 presence	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 presence	det
7	presence	presence	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 laid	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 rooster	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 rooster	det
10	rooster	rooster	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 presence	nmod
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 hen	punct
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 hen	det
13	hen	hen	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 presence	conj
14	kept	keep	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 hen	acl
15	alone	alone	ADV	_	14 kept	xcomp
16	ceasing	cease	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	14 kept	xcomp
17	to	to	PART	_	18 lay	mark
18	lay	lay	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	16 ceasing	xcomp
19	altogether	altogether	ADV	_	18 lay	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	lay	present · passive		Eggs	the presence of a rooster and a hen	solely property	vn put_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in presence=Destination
2	keep	participle		a hen not said here			tree rules
3	cease	gerund	a hen not said here				vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality
4	lay	to-infinitive	a hen not said here			altogether property	vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Eggs are laid irrespective of the presence of a rooster, those so laid being incapable of hatching

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Eggs	egg	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 laid	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 laid	aux:pass
3	laid	lay	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	irrespective	irrespective	ADV	_	3 laid	advmod
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 presence	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 presence	det
7	presence	presence	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 laid	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 rooster	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 rooster	det
10	rooster	rooster	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 presence	nmod
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 incapable	punct
12	those	that	DET	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	16 incapable	det
13	so	so	ADV	_	14 laid	advmod
14	laid	laid	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 incapable	amod
15	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	16 incapable	cop
16	incapable	incapable	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 presence	conj
17	of	of	ADP	_	18 hatching	case
18	hatching	hatching	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 incapable	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lay	present · passive		Eggs				of the presence of a rooster and that laid incapable; irrespective property	vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: subject=Result
2	is a	gerund		that laid incapable				of hatching	tree rules

Option 3

The hen lays but a few eggs over her lifetime

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 hen	det
2	hen	hen	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 lays	nsubj
3	lays	lay	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	but	but	CCONJ	_	7 eggs	cc
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 eggs	det
6	few	few	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 eggs	amod
7	eggs	egg	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 lays	obj
8	over	over	ADP	_	10 lifetime	case
9	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 lifetime	nmod:poss
10	lifetime	lifetime	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 lays	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lay	present	the hen	a few eggs		hen's lifetime			vn put_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent egg=Theme over lifetime=Destination

Option 4

All eggs so laid will hatch if warmed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	All	all	DET	PronType=Tot	2 eggs	det
2	eggs	egg	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 hatch	nsubj
3	so	so	ADV	_	4 laid	advmod
4	laid	lay	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 eggs	acl:relcl
5	will	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 hatch	aux
6	hatch	hatch	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
7	if	if	SCONJ	_	8 warmed	mark
8	warmed	warm	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 hatch	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	roles by
1	lay	past	all eggs not said here	vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	hatch	future	all eggs	vn grow-26.2.1 «NP.patient V PP.product»: agent=Patient
3	warm a condition, not said to happen	participle	all eggs not said here	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=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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