Exam question 4 · The vet

Ascertain the reason for which a veterinary surgeon measures the weight of a small animal such as a hamster.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, veterinary surgeon · What happens: ascertain, measure · To what, where: reason, weight

This is exam question 4 of lesson 227 «The vet» 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	9 measures	obl
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 surgeon	det
7	veterinary	veterinary	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 surgeon	compound
8	surgeon	surgeon	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 measures	nsubj
9	measures	measure	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 reason	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 weight	det
11	weight	weight	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 measures	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	15 animal	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 animal	det
14	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 animal	amod
15	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 weight	nmod
16	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	19 hamster	case
17	as	as	ADP	_	16 such	fixed
18	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	19 hamster	det
19	hamster	hamster	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 animal	nmod
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	measure	present	a veterinary surgeon	the weight of a small animal such a hamster				for the reason	vn register-54.1-2-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme weight=Value

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 weight determines the price at which the animal may be sold

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 weight	det
2	weight	weight	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 determines	nsubj
3	determines	determine	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 price	det
5	price	price	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 determines	obj
6	at	at	ADP	_	7 which	case
7	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 sold	obl
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 animal	det
9	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 sold	nsubj:pass
10	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	12 sold	aux
11	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	12 sold	aux:pass
12	sold	sell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 price	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	determine	present	the weight	the price					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent price=Topic
2	sell	may · passive		the animal		the price			vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: subject=Theme at which=Asset

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

A loss of weight may constitute the earliest indication of illness

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 loss	det
2	loss	loss	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 constitute	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 weight	case
4	weight	weight	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 loss	nmod
5	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 constitute	aux
6	constitute	constitute	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 indication	det
8	earliest	early	ADJ	Degree=Sup	9 indication	amod
9	indication	indication	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 constitute	obj
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 illness	case
11	illness	illness	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 indication	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	constitute	may	a loss of weight	the earliest indication of illness					vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme indication=Pivot
2	indicate			illness					nom indication «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

The weight determines the speed at which the animal can run

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 weight	det
2	weight	weight	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 determines	nsubj
3	determines	determine	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 speed	det
5	speed	speed	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 determines	obj
6	at	at	ADP	_	7 which	case
7	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 run	obl
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 animal	det
9	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 run	nsubj
10	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	11 run	aux
11	run	run	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 speed	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	determine	present	the weight	the speed					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent speed=Topic
2	run	can	the animal			the speed			vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at which=Trajectory

Option 4

The weight is recorded solely for the selection of a cage of suitable dimensions

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 weight	det
2	weight	weight	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 recorded	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 recorded	aux:pass
4	recorded	record	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	solely	solely	ADV	_	4 recorded	advmod
6	for	for	ADP	_	8 selection	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 selection	det
8	selection	selection	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 recorded	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 cage	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 cage	det
11	cage	cage	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 selection	nmod
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 dimensions	case
13	suitable	suitable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 dimensions	amod
14	dimensions	dimension	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 cage	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	record	present · passive		the weight				for the selection of a cage of suitable dimensions; solely property	vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	select			a cage of suitable dimensions					nom selection «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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/227-the-vet/e4/