Exam question 4 · Defences: venom in snakes, jellyfish, scorpions and the pl…

Ascertain the purpose served by the spreading of the hood in the cobra.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, serve, spread · To what, where: purpose, hood

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 purpose	det
3	purpose	purpose	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	served	serve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 purpose	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 spreading	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 spreading	det
7	spreading	spreading	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 served	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 hood	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 hood	det
10	hood	hood	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 spreading	nmod
11	in	in	ADP	_	13 cobra	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 cobra	det
13	cobra	cobra	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 hood	nmod
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the purpose		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent purpose=Topic
2	serve	participle		the purpose not said here	by the spreading of the hood in the cobra	vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent
3	spread			the hood in the cobra		nom spreading «event transitive»: of=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 · ← Mova's choice

The capture of airborne insects

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 capture	det
2	capture	capture	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 insects	case
4	airborne	airborne	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 insects	amod
5	insects	insect	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 capture	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	capture			airborne insects					nom capture «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

The attraction of prey by imitation of a flower

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 attraction	det
2	attraction	attraction	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 prey	case
4	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 attraction	nmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 imitation	case
6	imitation	imitation	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 attraction	nmod
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 flower	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 flower	det
9	flower	flower	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 imitation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	attract		imitation of a flower	prey					nom attraction «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient by=agent
2	imitate			a flower					nom imitation «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

The regulation of body temperature in the sun

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 regulation	det
2	regulation	regulation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 temperature	case
4	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 temperature	compound
5	temperature	temperature	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 regulation	nmod
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 sun	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 sun	det
8	sun	sun	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 temperature	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	regulate			body temperature in the sun					nom regulation «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The issuing of a warning to a potential attacker

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 issuing	det
2	issuing	issuing	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 warning	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 warning	det
5	warning	warning	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 issuing	nmod
6	to	to	ADP	_	9 attacker	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 attacker	det
8	potential	potential	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 attacker	amod
9	attacker	attacker	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 warning	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	issue			a warning to a potential attacker					nom issuing «act 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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/246-defences-venom-in-snakes-jellyfish-scorpions-and-the-platypus/e4/