Exam question 1 · Animal builders: spiders' webs and silk

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the structure of an orb web?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: structure

This is exam question 1 of lesson 244 «Animal builders: spiders' webs and silk» 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	10 structure	det
10	structure	structure	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 web	case
12	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 web	det
13	orb	orb	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 web	compound
14	web	web	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 structure	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 structure of a orb web				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

It is composed throughout of uniformly adhesive silk

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	3 composed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 composed	aux:pass
3	composed	compose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	throughout	throughout	ADP	_	8 silk	case
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 silk	case
6	uniformly	uniformly	ADV	_	7 adhesive	advmod
7	adhesive	adhesive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 silk	amod
8	silk	silk	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 composed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	compose	present · passive		It			throughout adhesive silk		vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Result

Option 2

It possesses no adhesive element 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 possesses	nsubj
2	possesses	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	5 element	det
4	adhesive	adhesive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 element	amod
5	element	element	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 possesses	obj
6	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	2 possesses	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	present	It	no adhesive element				whatsoever property	vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot element=Theme

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

It is constructed of fibres collected from plants

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	3 constructed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 constructed	aux:pass
3	constructed	construct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 fibres	case
5	fibres	fibre	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 constructed	obl
6	collected	collect	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 fibres	acl
7	from	from	ADP	_	8 plants	case
8	plants	plant	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 collected	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	construct	present · passive		It				of fibres	vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: subject=Result
2	collect	participle		fibres not said here		plants			vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent from plant=Source

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It consists of dry radial threads supporting an adhesive spiral

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 consists	nsubj
2	consists	consist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 threads	case
4	dry	dry	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 threads	amod
5	radial	radial	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 threads	compound
6	threads	thread	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 consists	obl
7	supporting	support	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 threads	acl
8	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 spiral	det
9	adhesive	adhesive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 spiral	amod
10	spiral	spiral	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 supporting	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	consist	present	It					of dry radial threads	tree rules
2	support	gerund	dry radial threads not said here	a adhesive spiral					vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer spiral=Stimulus

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/244-animal-builders-spiders-webs-and-silk/e1/