Exam question 1 · Defences: skunks, porcupines, hedgehogs and armour

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the defensive conduct of the porcupine?

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

This is exam question 1 of lesson 248 «Defences: skunks, porcupines, hedgehogs and armour» 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	11 conduct	det
10	defensive	defensive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 conduct	amod
11	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 porcupine	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 porcupine	det
14	porcupine	porcupine	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 conduct	nmod
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the defensive conduct of the porcupine	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	conduct		the porcupine		nom conduct «act 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 · ✓ the right answer

Its barbed quills detach readily upon contact but cannot be projected

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 quills	nmod:poss
2	barbed	barbed	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 quills	amod
3	quills	quill	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 detach	nsubj
4	detach	detach	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	readily	readily	ADV	_	4 detach	advmod
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 contact	case
7	contact	contact	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 detach	obl
8	but	but	CCONJ	_	12 projected	cc
9	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	12 projected	aux
10	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	12 projected	advmod
11	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	12 projected	aux:pass
12	projected	project	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 detach	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	detach	present	Its barbed quills					upon contact; readily property	vn disassemble-23.3 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
2	not project	can · passive	Its barbed quills not said here						vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

It discharges its quills over considerable distances, much as an archer looses arrows

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 discharges	nsubj
2	discharges	discharge	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 quills	nmod:poss
4	quills	quill	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 discharges	obj
5	over	over	ADP	_	7 distances	case
6	considerable	considerable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 distances	amod
7	distances	distance	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 discharges	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 much	punct
9	much	much	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 looses	nsubj
10	as	as	ADP	_	12 archer	case
11	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 archer	det
12	archer	archer	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 much	nmod
13	looses	loose	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 discharges	conj
14	arrows	arrow	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 looses	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	discharge	present	It	its quills				over considerable distances	vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent quill=Theme
2	loose	present	much as a archer	arrows					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent arrow=Patient

Option 3

It possesses venomous quills in the manner of a scorpion

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	venomous	venomous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 quills	amod
4	quills	quill	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 possesses	obj
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 manner	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 manner	det
7	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 possesses	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 scorpion	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 scorpion	det
10	scorpion	scorpion	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 manner	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	present	It	venomous quills		the manner of a scorpion			vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot quill=Theme

Option 4

It relies exclusively upon flight from its pursuers

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 relies	nsubj
2	relies	rely	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	2 relies	advmod
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	5 flight	case
5	flight	flight	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 relies	obl
6	from	from	ADP	_	8 pursuers	case
7	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 pursuers	nmod:poss
8	pursuers	pursuer	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 relies	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rely	present	It			flight's pursuers		upon flight; exclusively property	vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S_ING»: agent=Agent

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/248-defences-skunks-porcupines-hedgehogs-and-armour/e1/