Exam question 1 · Ducks, geese and farm myths

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the means whereby ducks maintain bodily warmth in icy water?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: the, ducks · What happens: follow, characteris, mean, maintain · To what, where: warmth, icy water · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 1 of lesson 213 «Ducks, geese and farm myths» 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 means	nsubj
10	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 characterises	ccomp
11	whereby	whereby	ADV	PronType=Int	13 maintain	advmod
12	ducks	duck	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 maintain	nsubj
13	maintain	maintain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 means	ccomp
14	bodily	bodily	ADV	_	15 warmth	advmod
15	warmth	warmth	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 maintain	obj
16	in	in	ADP	_	18 water	case
17	icy	icy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 water	amod
18	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 maintain	obl
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund					vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	mean	present	the				vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
4	maintain	present	ducks	warmth	icy water	whereby property	vn declare-29.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent warmth=Theme

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

Ducks are insensible to cold by reason of their quacking, which warms the blood throughout the body

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Ducks	duck	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 insensible	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 insensible	cop
3	insensible	insensible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	to	to	ADP	_	5 cold	case
5	cold	cold	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 insensible	obl
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 reason	case
7	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 insensible	obl
8	of	of	SCONJ	_	10 quacking	mark
9	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 quacking	nsubj
10	quacking	quack	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 reason	acl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 warms	punct
12	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 warms	nsubj
13	warms	warm	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 insensible	conj
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 blood	det
15	blood	blood	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 warms	obj
16	throughout	throughout	ADP	_	18 body	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 body	det
18	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 warms	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Ducks			to cold; by reason; insensible property	tree rules
2	quack	gerund	Ducks = duck	reason not said here			vn animal_sounds-38 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
3	warm	present		the blood	throughout the body		vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent blood=Patient

Option 2

The feet of ducks contain no blood whatsoever

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 feet	det
2	feet	foot	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 contain	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 ducks	case
4	ducks	duck	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 feet	nmod
5	contain	contain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	7 blood	det
7	blood	blood	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 contain	obj
8	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	5 contain	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	contain	present	the feet of ducks	no blood				whatsoever property	vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot blood=Theme

Option 3

Ducks possess fur upon their feet

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Ducks	duck	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 possess	nsubj
2	possess	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	fur	fur	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 possess	obj
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	6 feet	case
5	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 feet	nmod:poss
6	feet	foot	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 possess	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	present	Ducks	fur				upon Ducks's feet	vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot fur=Theme

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

Heat is exchanged between warm and cold blood vessels in the legs, the body remaining warm

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 exchanged	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 exchanged	aux:pass
3	exchanged	exchange	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	between	between	ADP	_	9 vessels	case
5	warm	warm	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 vessels	amod
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 cold	cc
7	cold	cold	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 warm	conj
8	blood	blood	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 vessels	compound
9	vessels	vessel	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 exchanged	obl
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 legs	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 legs	det
12	legs	leg	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 vessels	nmod
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 body	punct
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 body	det
15	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 exchanged	parataxis
16	remaining	remain	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	15 body	acl
17	warm	warm	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 remaining	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exchange	present · passive		Heat				between warm blood vessels in the legs	vn exchange-13.6.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	remain	gerund	the body not said here					warm property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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.

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