Exam question 4 · Animal minds: dolphins' names, orca grandmothers and whale…

Ascertain the manner in which a dolphin obtains rest whilst continuing to breathe.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, dolphin · What happens: ascertain, obtain, continue, breathe · To what, where: manner, rest

This is exam question 4 of lesson 235 «Animal minds: dolphins' names, orca grandmothers and whale songs» 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 manner	det
3	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 obtains	obl
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 dolphin	det
7	dolphin	dolphin	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 obtains	nsubj
8	obtains	obtain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 manner	acl:relcl
9	rest	rest	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 obtains	obj
10	whilst	whilst	SCONJ	_	11 continuing	mark
11	continuing	continue	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 obtains	advcl
12	to	to	PART	_	13 breathe	mark
13	breathe	breathe	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	11 continuing	advcl
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the manner		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent manner=Topic
2	obtain	present	a dolphin	rest	the manner	vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rest=Theme
3	continue	gerund	a dolphin not said here			vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
4	breathe	to-infinitive	a dolphin not said here			vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

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

By attaching itself to floating ice

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 attaching	mark
2	attaching	attach	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	itself	itself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	2 attaching	obj
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 ice	case
5	floating	float	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 ice	amod
6	ice	ice	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 attaching	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	attach	gerund		itself = it				to floating ice	vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent itself=Patient to ice=Co-Patient
2	float	gerund							vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

By ceasing to breathe throughout the night

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 ceasing	mark
2	ceasing	cease	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 breathe	mark
4	breathe	breathe	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 ceasing	xcomp
5	throughout	throughout	ADP	_	7 night	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 night	det
7	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 breathe	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cease	gerund							vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality
2	breathe	to-infinitive					night		vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

By resting one hemisphere of the brain at a time

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 resting	mark
2	resting	rest	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 hemisphere	nummod
4	hemisphere	hemisphere	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 resting	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 brain	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 brain	det
7	brain	brain	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 hemisphere	nmod
8	at	at	ADP	_	10 time	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 time	det
10	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 resting	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rest	gerund		one hemisphere of the brain			time		vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location hemisphere=Theme

Option 4

By descending to the sea floor for several hours

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 descending	mark
2	descending	descend	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	to	to	ADP	_	6 floor	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 floor	det
5	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 floor	compound
6	floor	floor	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 descending	obl
7	for	for	ADP	_	9 hours	case
8	several	several	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 hours	amod
9	hours	hour	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 descending	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	descend	gerund				the sea floor	hour		vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to floor=Location

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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