Exam question 1 · Animal minds: the octopus, escape artist and puzzle solver

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the nervous system of the octopus?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: nervous system

This is exam question 1 of lesson 234 «Animal minds: the octopus, escape artist and puzzle solver» 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 system	det
10	nervous	nervous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 system	amod
11	system	system	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 octopus	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 octopus	det
14	octopus	octopus	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 system	nmod
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the nervous system of the octopus				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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

It comprises a separate brain located within each of the three hearts, the head containing none

The tree, 16 words

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 comprises	nsubj
2	comprises	comprise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 brain	det
4	separate	separate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 brain	amod
5	brain	brain	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 comprises	obj
6	located	locate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 brain	acl
7	within	within	ADP	_	8 each	case
8	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	6 located	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	12 hearts	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 hearts	det
11	three	three	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	12 hearts	nummod
12	hearts	heart	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 each	nmod
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 head	punct
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 head	det
15	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 brain	conj
16	containing	contain	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	15 head	acl
17	none	none	PRON	PronType=Neg	16 containing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	comprise	present	It	a separate brain and the head		vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme brain=Pivot
2	locate	participle		a separate brain and the head not said here	within each	tree rules
3	contain	gerund	the head not said here	none		vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot none=Theme

Option 2

It comprises nine brains of equal size

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 comprises	nsubj
2	comprises	comprise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	nine	nine	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 brains	nummod
4	brains	brain	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 comprises	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 size	case
6	equal	equal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 size	amod
7	size	size	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 brains	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	comprise	present	It	nine brains of equal size					vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme brain=Pivot

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It comprises a single central brain together with substantial nerve bundles in each of the eight arms

The tree, 17 words

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 comprises	nsubj
2	comprises	comprise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 brain	det
4	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 brain	amod
5	central	central	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 brain	amod
6	brain	brain	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 comprises	obj
7	together	together	ADV	_	2 comprises	advmod
8	with	with	ADP	_	11 bundles	case
9	substantial	substantial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 bundles	amod
10	nerve	nerve	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 bundles	compound
11	bundles	bundle	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 comprises	obl
12	in	in	ADP	_	13 each	case
13	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	11 bundles	nmod
14	of	of	ADP	_	17 arms	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 arms	det
16	eight	eight	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	17 arms	nummod
17	arms	arm	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 each	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	comprise	present	It	a single central brain				with substantial nerve bundles in each; together property	vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme brain=Pivot

Option 4

It comprises no nervous tissue whatsoever

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 comprises	nsubj
2	comprises	comprise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	5 tissue	det
4	nervous	nervous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 tissue	amod
5	tissue	tissue	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 comprises	obj
6	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	2 comprises	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	comprise	present	It	no nervous tissue				whatsoever property	vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme tissue=Pivot

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/234-animal-minds-the-octopus-escape-artist-and-puzzle-solver/e1/