Exam question 3 · Butterflies, moths and ladybirds

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the coloration of the ladybird.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern · To what, where: response, coloration

This is exam question 3 of lesson 219 «Butterflies, moths and ladybirds» 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 coloration	det
11	coloration	coloration	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 ladybird	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 ladybird	det
14	ladybird	ladybird	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 coloration	nmod
15	.	.	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 coloration of the ladybird		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus coloration=Experiencer

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

The bright coloration serves to absorb heat during the winter

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 coloration	det
2	bright	bright	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 coloration	amod
3	coloration	coloration	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 serves	nsubj
4	serves	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 absorb	mark
6	absorb	absorb	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 serves	xcomp
7	heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 absorb	obj
8	during	during	ADP	_	10 winter	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 winter	det
10	winter	winter	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 absorb	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	serve	present	the bright coloration						tree rules
2	absorb	to-infinitive	the bright coloration not said here	heat			winter		vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Goal heat=Theme

Option 2

The bright coloration serves to attract aphids towards the insect

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 coloration	det
2	bright	bright	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 coloration	amod
3	coloration	coloration	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 serves	nsubj
4	serves	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 attract	mark
6	attract	attract	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 serves	xcomp
7	aphids	aphid	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 attract	obj
8	towards	towards	ADP	_	10 insect	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 insect	det
10	insect	insect	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 attract	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	serve	present	the bright coloration						tree rules
2	attract	to-infinitive	the bright coloration not said here	aphids				towards the insect	vn lure-59.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent aphid=Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The bright coloration serves to warn predators of an unpleasant taste

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 coloration	det
2	bright	bright	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 coloration	amod
3	coloration	coloration	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 serves	nsubj
4	serves	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 warn	mark
6	warn	warn	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 serves	advcl
7	predators	predator	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 warn	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	11 taste	case
9	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 taste	det
10	unpleasant	unpleasant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 taste	amod
11	taste	taste	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 predators	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	serve	present	the bright coloration						vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent
2	warn speech: warn	to-infinitive	the bright coloration not said here	predators of a unpleasant taste					vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent predator=Recipient

Option 4

The bright coloration serves to conceal the insect among berries

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 coloration	det
2	bright	bright	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 coloration	amod
3	coloration	coloration	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 serves	nsubj
4	serves	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 conceal	mark
6	conceal	conceal	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 serves	xcomp
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 insect	det
8	insect	insect	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 conceal	obj
9	among	among	ADP	_	10 berries	case
10	berries	berry	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 conceal	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	serve	present	the bright coloration						tree rules
2	conceal	to-infinitive	the bright coloration not said here	the insect		berries			vn concealment-16 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent insect=Patient among berry=Location

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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