Exam question 1 · Gulls: chip thieves, rain dances and salty water

Identify the means by which the gull is enabled to consume sea water without harm.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, the, gull · What happens: identify, mean, enable, consume · To what, where: gull, sea water · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 1 of lesson 223 «Gulls: chip thieves, rain dances and salty water» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 means	nsubj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Identify	ccomp
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 enabled	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 gull	det
7	gull	gull	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 enabled	nsubj:pass
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 enabled	aux:pass
9	enabled	enable	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 means	ccomp
10	to	to	PART	_	11 consume	mark
11	consume	consume	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 enabled	xcomp
12	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 water	compound
13	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 consume	obj
14	without	without	ADP	_	15 harm	case
15	harm	harm	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 consume	obl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	mean	present	the			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	enable	present · passive		the gull		tree rules
4	consume	to-infinitive	the gull not said here	sea water	without harm	vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Asset

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

The feathers absorb the salt from the water before it is swallowed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 feathers	det
2	feathers	feather	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 absorb	nsubj
3	absorb	absorb	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 salt	det
5	salt	salt	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 absorb	obj
6	from	from	ADP	_	8 water	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 water	det
8	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 absorb	obl
9	before	before	SCONJ	_	12 swallowed	mark
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 swallowed	nsubj:pass
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 swallowed	aux:pass
12	swallowed	swallow	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 absorb	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	absorb	present	the feathers	the salt		the water			vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Goal salt=Theme from water=Source
2	swallow	present · passive		salt					vn gobble-39.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Glands situated above the eyes remove the salt, which is discharged through the nostrils

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Glands	gland	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 remove	nsubj
2	situated	situate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Glands	acl
3	above	above	ADP	_	5 eyes	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 eyes	det
5	eyes	eye	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 situated	obl
6	remove	remove	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 salt	det
8	salt	salt	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 remove	obj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 discharged	punct
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 discharged	nsubj:pass
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 discharged	aux:pass
12	discharged	discharge	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 salt	acl:relcl
13	through	through	ADP	_	15 nostrils	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 nostrils	det
15	nostrils	nostril	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 discharged	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	situate	participle		Glands not said here	the eyes	vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent above eye=Destination
2	remove	present	Glands	the salt		vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent salt=Theme
3	discharge	present · passive		the salt	the nostrils	vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 3

The salt is expelled exclusively through the feet

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 salt	det
2	salt	salt	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 expelled	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 expelled	aux:pass
4	expelled	expel	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	4 expelled	advmod
6	through	through	ADP	_	8 feet	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 feet	det
8	feet	foot	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 expelled	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	expel	present · passive		the salt		the feet		exclusively property	vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 4

The salt is retained within the stomach and is never absorbed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 salt	det
2	salt	salt	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 retained	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 retained	aux:pass
4	retained	retain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	within	within	ADP	_	7 stomach	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 stomach	det
7	stomach	stomach	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 retained	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 absorbed	cc
9	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 absorbed	aux:pass
10	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	11 absorbed	advmod
11	absorbed	absorb	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 retained	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	retain	present · passive		the salt				within the stomach	tree rules
2	not absorb	present · passive							vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP»

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/223-gulls-chip-thieves-rain-dances-and-salty-water/e1/