Exam question 2 · Rats and mice in the city, and the elephant and mouse myth

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the popular belief that elephants fear mice?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: elephants · What happens: follow, characteris, fear · To what, where: popular belief, mice

This is exam question 2 of lesson 222 «Rats and mice in the city, and the elephant and mouse myth» 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 belief	det
10	popular	popular	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 belief	amod
11	belief	belief	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	that	that	SCONJ	_	14 fear	mark
13	elephants	elephant	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 fear	nsubj
14	fear	fear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 belief	acl
15	mice	mouse	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 fear	obj
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the popular belief	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	fear	present	elephants	mice		vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer mouse=Stimulus

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

It arises because mice habitually enter the trunk of the elephant

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 arises	nsubj
2	arises	arise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	because	because	SCONJ	_	6 enter	mark
4	mice	mouse	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 enter	nsubj
5	habitually	habitually	ADV	_	6 enter	advmod
6	enter	enter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 arises	ccomp
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 trunk	det
8	trunk	trunk	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 enter	obj
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 elephant	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 elephant	det
11	elephant	elephant	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 trunk	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	arise	present	It						tree rules
2	enter	present	mice	the trunk of the elephant				habitually property	vn escape-51.1-1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme trunk=Destination

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

It has been demonstrated in all elephants under all conditions

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 demonstrated	nsubj:pass
2	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 demonstrated	aux
3	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	4 demonstrated	aux:pass
4	demonstrated	demonstrate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 elephants	case
6	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	7 elephants	det
7	elephants	elephant	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 demonstrated	obl
8	under	under	ADP	_	10 conditions	case
9	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	10 conditions	det
10	conditions	condition	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 demonstrated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	demonstrate	present · perfect · passive		It		all conditions		in all elephants	vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

No good evidence supports a particular fear of mice in elephants

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	DET	PronType=Neg	3 evidence	det
2	good	good	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 evidence	amod
3	evidence	evidence	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 supports	nsubj
4	supports	support	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 fear	det
6	particular	particular	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 fear	amod
7	fear	fear	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 supports	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 mice	case
9	mice	mouse	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 fear	nmod
10	in	in	ADP	_	11 elephants	case
11	elephants	elephant	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 supports	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	support	present	no good evidence	a particular fear of mice				in elephants	vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer fear=Stimulus
2	fear			mice					nom fear «feeling transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

It arises because mice compete with elephants for food

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 arises	nsubj
2	arises	arise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	because	because	SCONJ	_	5 compete	mark
4	mice	mouse	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 compete	nsubj
5	compete	compete	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 arises	ccomp
6	with	with	ADP	_	7 elephants	case
7	elephants	elephant	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 compete	obl
8	for	for	ADP	_	9 food	case
9	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 compete	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	arise	present	It						tree rules
2	compete	present	mice					with elephants; for food	vn battle-36.4 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with elephant=Co-Agent

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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