Exam question 4 · Worms, snails and slugs

Ascertain the reason for which the song thrush strikes snails against a particular stone.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, song thrush · What happens: ascertain, strike · To what, where: reason, snails

This is exam question 4 of lesson 217 «Worms, snails and slugs» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 strikes	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 thrush	det
7	song	song	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 thrush	compound
8	thrush	thrush	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 strikes	nsubj
9	strikes	strike	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 reason	acl
10	snails	snail	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 strikes	obj
11	against	against	ADP	_	14 stone	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 stone	det
13	particular	particular	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 stone	amod
14	stone	stone	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 strikes	obl
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	strike	present	the song thrush	snails				for the reason; against a particular stone	vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent snail=Instrument against stone=Patient

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

Other birds are thereby warned to vacate the territory

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 birds	amod
2	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 warned	nsubj:pass
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 warned	aux:pass
4	thereby	thereby	ADV	_	5 warned	advmod
5	warned	warn	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	to	to	PART	_	7 vacate	mark
7	vacate	vacate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 warned	xcomp
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 territory	det
9	territory	territory	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 vacate	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	warn speech: warn	present · passive		Other birds				thereby property	vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP how S_INF»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic
2	vacate	to-infinitive	Other birds not said here	the territory					vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme territory=Initial_Location

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

The snail is thereby encouraged to vacate its shell voluntarily

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 snail	det
2	snail	snail	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 encouraged	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 encouraged	aux:pass
4	thereby	thereby	ADV	_	5 encouraged	advmod
5	encouraged	encourage	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	to	to	PART	_	7 vacate	mark
7	vacate	vacate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 encouraged	xcomp
8	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 shell	nmod:poss
9	shell	shell	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 vacate	obj
10	voluntarily	voluntarily	ADV	_	7 vacate	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	encourage	present · passive		the snail				thereby property	vn advise-37.9 «NP V NP how S_INF»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic
2	vacate not said to happen	to-infinitive	the snail not said here	snail's shell				voluntarily property	vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme shell=Initial_Location

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The shell is thereby fractured so that the soft body may be consumed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 shell	det
2	shell	shell	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 fractured	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 fractured	aux:pass
4	thereby	thereby	ADV	_	5 fractured	advmod
5	fractured	fracture	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	so	so	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	13 consumed	mark
7	that	that	SCONJ	_	6 so	fixed
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 body	det
9	soft	soft	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 body	amod
10	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 consumed	nsubj:pass
11	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	13 consumed	aux
12	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	13 consumed	aux:pass
13	consumed	consume	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 fractured	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fracture	present · passive		the shell				thereby property	vn break-45.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient
2	consume	may · passive		the soft body					vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: subject=Asset

Option 4

The mucus is thereby removed prior to the construction of a nest of shells

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 mucus	det
2	mucus	mucus	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 removed	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 removed	aux:pass
4	thereby	thereby	ADV	_	5 removed	advmod
5	removed	remove	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	prior	prior	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	9 construction	case
7	to	to	ADP	_	6 prior	fixed
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 construction	det
9	construction	construction	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 removed	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 nest	case
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 nest	det
12	nest	nest	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 construction	nmod
13	of	of	ADP	_	14 shells	case
14	shells	shell	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 nest	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	remove	present · passive		the mucus				prior the construction of a nest of shells; thereby property	vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	construct			a nest of shells					nom construction «act transitive»: of=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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