Exam question 4 · Rats and mice in the city, and the elephant and mouse myth

Ascertain the reason for which the African giant pouched rat is employed in the detection of landmines.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, employ, detect · To what, where: reason, African giant pouched rat, detection, landmines

This is exam question 4 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	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	12 employed	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 rat	det
7	African	African	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 rat	amod
8	giant	giant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 rat	amod
9	pouched	pouched	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 rat	amod
10	rat	rat	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 employed	nsubj:pass
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 employed	aux:pass
12	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 reason	acl:relcl
13	in	in	ADP	_	15 detection	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 detection	det
15	detection	detection	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 employed	obl
16	of	of	ADP	_	17 landmines	case
17	landmines	landmine	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 detection	nmod
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	employ	present · passive		the African giant pouched rat	the detection of landmines	for the reason	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: subject=Theme for which=Eventuality
3	detect			landmines			nom detection «cognition transitive»: of=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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Its acute sense of smell is combined with a body weight insufficient to detonate them

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 sense	nmod:poss
2	acute	acute	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 sense	amod
3	sense	sense	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 combined	nsubj:pass
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 smell	case
5	smell	smell	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 sense	nmod
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 combined	aux:pass
7	combined	combine	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
8	with	with	ADP	_	11 weight	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 weight	det
10	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 weight	compound
11	weight	weight	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 combined	obl
12	insufficient	insufficient	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 weight	amod
13	to	to	PART	_	14 detonate	mark
14	detonate	detonate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 insufficient	xcomp
15	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 detonate	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	combine	present · passive		Its acute sense of smell	with a body weight	vn mix-22.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: subject=Patient with weight=Co-Patient
2	detonate	to-infinitive		them = they		vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent they=Patient
3	sense		Its = it	smell		nom sense «cognition transitive»: poss=agent of=patient

Option 2

Its teeth permit the safe dismantling of the devices once they have been located

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 teeth	nmod:poss
2	teeth	tooth	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 permit	nsubj
3	permit	permit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 dismantling	det
5	safe	safe	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 dismantling	amod
6	dismantling	dismantling	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 permit	obj
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 devices	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 devices	det
9	devices	device	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 dismantling	nmod
10	once	once	SCONJ	_	14 located	mark
11	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 located	nsubj:pass
12	have	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 located	aux
13	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	14 located	aux:pass
14	located	locate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 permit	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	permit	present	Its teeth	the safe dismantling of the devices	vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dismantling=Theme
2	locate	present · perfect · passive		teeth = tooth	tree rules
3	dismantle			the devices	nom dismantling «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

Its hearing permits the detection of ticking mechanisms

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 hearing	nmod:poss
2	hearing	hearing	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 permits	nsubj
3	permits	permit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 detection	det
5	detection	detection	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 permits	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 mechanisms	case
7	ticking	ticking	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 mechanisms	compound
8	mechanisms	mechanism	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 detection	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	permit	present	Its hearing	the detection of ticking mechanisms	vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent detection=Theme
2	hear		Its = it		nom hearing «act intransitive»: poss=agent
3	detect			ticking mechanisms	nom detection «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

Its eyesight permits the observation of objects beneath the soil

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 eyesight	nmod:poss
2	eyesight	eyesight	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 permits	nsubj
3	permits	permit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 observation	det
5	observation	observation	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 permits	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 objects	case
7	objects	object	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 observation	nmod
8	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	10 soil	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 soil	det
10	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 permits	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	permit	present	Its eyesight	the observation of objects		the soil			vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent observation=Theme beneath soil=Location
2	observe			objects					nom observation «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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