Exam question 2 · Raccoons, opossums and skunks

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the behaviour termed playing possum?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: behaviour · What happens: follow, characteris, term, play · To what, where: possum

This is exam question 2 of lesson 224 «Raccoons, opossums and skunks» 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	1 Which	nmod
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	10 behaviour	det
10	behaviour	behaviour	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 termed	nsubj
11	termed	term	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 characterises	ccomp
12	playing	play	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	11 termed	xcomp
13	possum	possum	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 playing	obj
14	?	?	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			accurately property	tree rules
3	term	past	the behaviour			tree rules
4	play	gerund	the behaviour not said here	possum		vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent possum=Theme

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

The animal collapses, remains motionless and emits an offensive odour

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 animal	det
2	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 collapses	nsubj
3	collapses	collapse	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 remains	punct
5	remains	remain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 collapses	conj
6	motionless	motionless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 remains	xcomp
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 emits	cc
8	emits	emit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 collapses	conj
9	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 odour	det
10	offensive	offensive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 odour	amod
11	odour	odour	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 emits	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	collapse	present	the animal			vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
2	remain	present	the animal not said here		motionless property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	emit	present	the animal not said here	a offensive odour		vn substance_emission-43.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Source odour=Theme

Option 2

The animal suspends itself by the tail for extended periods

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 animal	det
2	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 suspends	nsubj
3	suspends	suspend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	itself	itself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	3 suspends	obj
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 tail	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 tail	det
7	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 suspends	obl
8	for	for	ADP	_	10 periods	case
9	extended	extended	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 periods	amod
10	periods	period	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 suspends	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	suspend	present	the animal	animal				by the tail; for extended periods	vn put_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent itself=Theme by tail=Destination

Option 3

The animal conceals its young beneath fallen leaves

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 animal	det
2	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 conceals	nsubj
3	conceals	conceal	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 young	nmod:poss
5	young	young	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 conceals	obj
6	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	8 leaves	case
7	fallen	fall	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 leaves	amod
8	leaves	leaf	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 conceals	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	conceal	present	the animal	animal's young		fallen leaves			vn concealment-16 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent young=Patient beneath leaf=Location
2	fall	participle							vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

The animal flees in a circular path to confuse a pursuer

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 animal	det
2	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 flees	nsubj
3	flees	flee	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	7 path	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 path	det
6	circular	circular	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 path	amod
7	path	path	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 flees	obl
8	to	to	PART	_	9 confuse	mark
9	confuse	confuse	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 flees	advcl
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 pursuer	det
11	pursuer	pursuer	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 confuse	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	flee	present	the animal			a circular path			vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	confuse	to-infinitive	the animal not said here	a pursuer					vn amalgamate-22.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pursuer=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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