Exam question 3 · Wolves and dogs

Ascertain the principal mechanism by which a dog dissipates excess bodily heat.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, dog · What happens: ascertain, dissipate · To what, where: principal mechanism, excess bodily heat

This is exam question 3 of lesson 24 «Wolves and dogs» 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	4 mechanism	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 mechanism	amod
4	mechanism	mechanism	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 dissipates	obl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 dog	det
8	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 dissipates	nsubj
9	dissipates	dissipate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 mechanism	acl:relcl
10	excess	excess	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 heat	amod
11	bodily	bodily	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 heat	amod
12	heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 dissipates	obj
13	.	.	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 principal mechanism					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mechanism=Topic
2	dissipate	present	a dog	excess bodily heat				by the principal mechanism	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent heat=Patient

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 right answer

Panting, whereby moisture evaporates from the tongue

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Panting	pant	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 evaporates	advcl
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Panting	punct
3	whereby	whereby	ADV	PronType=Int	5 evaporates	advmod
4	moisture	moisture	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 evaporates	nsubj
5	evaporates	evaporate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	from	from	ADP	_	8 tongue	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 tongue	det
8	tongue	tongue	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 evaporates	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pant	gerund	moisture not said here						vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	evaporate	present	moisture			the tongue		whereby property	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 2

The shedding of the coat

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 shedding	det
2	shedding	shedding	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 coat	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 coat	det
5	coat	coat	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 shedding	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	shed		the coat						nom shedding «process intransitive»: of=agent

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Profuse sweating across the entire skin

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Profuse	profuse	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 sweating	amod
2	sweating	sweat	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	across	across	ADP	_	6 skin	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 skin	det
5	entire	entire	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 skin	amod
6	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 sweating	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sweat	gerund				the entire skin			vn substance_emission-43.4-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme across skin=Location

Option 4

The flapping of the ears

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 flapping	det
2	flapping	flapping	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 ears	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 ears	det
5	ears	ear	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 flapping	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	flap			the ears					nom flapping «event 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.

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