Exam question 2 · Elephants: families, tusks, ears and memory

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the thermoregulatory function of the elephant's auricles?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: thermoregulatory function

This is exam question 2 of lesson 22 «Elephants: families, tusks, ears and memory» 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	11 function	det
10	thermoregulatory	thermoregulatory	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 function	amod
11	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	16 auricles	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 elephant	det
14	elephant	elephant	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 auricles	nmod:poss
15	's	's	PART	_	14 elephant	case
16	auricles	auricle	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 function	nmod
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 thermoregulatory function of the elephant's auricles				of the following statements; 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

They generate heat by means of friction

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 generate	nsubj
2	generate	generate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 generate	obj
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 means	case
5	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 generate	parataxis
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 friction	case
7	friction	friction	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 means	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	generate	present	They	heat					vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent heat=Patient
2	mean	present						of friction	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent

Option 2

They serve no purpose whatsoever other than that of the perception of sound

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 serve	nsubj
2	serve	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	4 purpose	det
4	purpose	purpose	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 serve	obj
5	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	6 other	advmod
6	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 purpose	amod
7	than	than	ADP	_	8 that	case
8	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	6 other	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 perception	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 perception	det
11	perception	perception	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 that	nmod
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 sound	case
13	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 perception	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	serve	present	They	no purpose					vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent purpose=Attribute
2	perceive			sound					nom perception «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Blood circulating through them is cooled when they are flapped

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Blood	blood	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 cooled	nsubj:pass
2	circulating	circulate	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	1 Blood	acl
3	through	through	ADP	_	4 them	case
4	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 circulating	obl
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 cooled	aux:pass
6	cooled	cool	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	10 flapped	advmod
8	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 flapped	nsubj
9	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 flapped	aux:pass
10	flapped	flap	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 cooled	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	circulate	gerund	Blood not said here		through them = they	vn modes_of_being_with_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through they=Location
2	cool	present · passive		Blood		vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient
3	flap	present · passive		they		vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient

Option 4

They store water for periods of drought

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 store	nsubj
2	store	store	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 store	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 periods	case
5	periods	period	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 store	obl
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 drought	case
7	drought	drought	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 periods	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	store	present	They	water				for periods of drought	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/22-elephants-families-tusks-ears-memory/e2/