Exam question 1 · Defences: venom in snakes, jellyfish, scorpions and the pl…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the distinction between venomous and poisonous organisms?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: distinction

This is exam question 1 of lesson 246 «Defences: venom in snakes, jellyfish, scorpions and the platypus» 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 distinction	det
10	distinction	distinction	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	between	between	ADP	_	15 organisms	case
12	venomous	venomous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 organisms	amod
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 poisonous	cc
14	poisonous	poisonous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 venomous	conj
15	organisms	organism	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 distinction	nmod
16	?	?	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 distinction				of the following statements; between venomous organisms; 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

Venomous organisms are harmful solely when consumed or touched by the predator

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Venomous	venomous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 organisms	amod
2	organisms	organism	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 harmful	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 harmful	cop
4	harmful	harmful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	solely	solely	ADV	_	7 consumed	advmod
6	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	7 consumed	advmod
7	consumed	consume	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 harmful	advcl
8	or	or	CCONJ	_	9 touched	cc
9	touched	touch	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 consumed	conj
10	by	by	ADP	_	12 predator	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 predator	det
12	predator	predator	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 touched	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	is	present	Venomous organisms	harmful property	tree rules
2	consume	participle	Venomous organisms not said here	solely property	vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	touch	participle	Venomous organisms not said here	by the predator	vn contiguous_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Venom is injected by bite, sting or spine, whereas poison causes harm when ingested or touched

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Venom	venom	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 injected	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 injected	aux:pass
3	injected	inject	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 bite	case
5	bite	bite	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 injected	obl
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 sting	punct
7	sting	sting	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 bite	conj
8	or	or	CCONJ	_	9 spine	cc
9	spine	spine	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 bite	conj
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 causes	punct
11	whereas	whereas	SCONJ	_	13 causes	mark
12	poison	poison	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 causes	nsubj
13	causes	cause	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 injected	conj
14	harm	harm	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 causes	obj
15	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	16 ingested	advmod
16	ingested	ingest	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 causes	advcl
17	or	or	CCONJ	_	18 touched	cc
18	touched	touch	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	16 ingested	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	inject	present · passive	bite and sting or spine	Venom	vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient
2	cause	present	poison	harm	vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition harm=Patient
3	ingest	participle	poison not said here		vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Goal
4	touch	participle	poison not said here		vn contiguous_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3

Poisonous organisms invariably inflict bites

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Poisonous	Poisonous	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 organisms	compound
2	organisms	organism	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 inflict	nsubj
3	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	4 inflict	advmod
4	inflict	inflict	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	bites	bite	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 inflict	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	inflict	present	Poisonous organisms	bites				invariably property	tree rules

Option 4

The terms are wholly synonymous in scientific usage, both denoting any harmful substance

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 terms	det
2	terms	term	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 synonymous	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 synonymous	cop
4	wholly	wholly	ADV	_	5 synonymous	advmod
5	synonymous	synonymous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 usage	case
7	scientific	scientific	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 usage	amod
8	usage	usage	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 synonymous	obl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 denoting	punct
10	both	both	DET	PronType=Tot	11 denoting	nsubj
11	denoting	denote	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 synonymous	conj
12	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	14 substance	det
13	harmful	harmful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 substance	amod
14	substance	substance	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 denoting	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the terms			scientific usage		synonymous, wholly property	tree rules
2	denote	gerund	both	any harmful substance					vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot substance=Topic

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/246-defences-venom-in-snakes-jellyfish-scorpions-and-the-platypus/e1/