Exam question 2 · Defences: skunks, porcupines, hedgehogs and armour

Identify the principal reason for which a tortoise is incapable of vacating its shell.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, tortoise, incapable · What happens: identify, be, vacate · To what, where: principal reason, incapable, shell

This is exam question 2 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 incapable	obl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 tortoise	det
8	tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 incapable	nsubj
9	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 incapable	cop
10	incapable	incapable	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 reason	nmod
11	of	of	SCONJ	_	12 vacating	mark
12	vacating	vacate	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 incapable	acl
13	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 shell	nmod:poss
14	shell	shell	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 vacating	obj
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	is a	present	a tortoise	incapable	for the principal reason	tree rules
3	vacate	gerund	incapable not said here	tortoise's shell		vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme shell=Initial_Location

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 shell is fastened by a lock of hardened mud

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 shell	det
2	shell	shell	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 fastened	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 fastened	aux:pass
4	fastened	fasten	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 lock	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 lock	det
7	lock	lock	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 fastened	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 mud	case
9	hardened	harden	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 mud	amod
10	mud	mud	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 lock	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fasten	present · passive	a lock of hardened mud	the shell					vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient
2	harden	participle							vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 2

The tortoise is too large to pass through the openings

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 tortoise	det
2	tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 large	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 large	cop
4	too	too	ADV	_	5 large	advmod
5	large	large	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	to	to	PART	_	7 pass	mark
7	pass	pass	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 large	xcomp
8	through	through	ADP	_	10 openings	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 openings	det
10	openings	opening	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 pass	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the tortoise					large property	tree rules
2	pass	to-infinitive	the tortoise not said here			the openings			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme through opening=Location

Option 3

The shell is cemented to the skin by saliva which sets as hard as stone

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 shell	det
2	shell	shell	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 cemented	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 cemented	aux:pass
4	cemented	cement	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 skin	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 skin	det
7	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 cemented	obl
8	by	by	ADP	_	9 saliva	case
9	saliva	saliva	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 cemented	obl
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 hard	nsubj
11	sets	set	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 hard	cop
12	as	as	ADV	_	13 hard	advmod
13	hard	hard	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 saliva	acl:relcl
14	as	as	ADP	_	15 stone	case
15	stone	stone	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 hard	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cement	present · passive	saliva	the shell				to the skin	vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent subject=Patient to skin=Co-Patient
2	is	present	saliva					as stone; hard property	tree rules

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The shell forms part of its skeleton, being joined to the backbone and ribs

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 shell	det
2	shell	shell	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 forms	nsubj
3	forms	form	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	part	part	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 forms	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 skeleton	case
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 skeleton	nmod:poss
7	skeleton	skeleton	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 part	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 joined	punct
9	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	10 joined	aux:pass
10	joined	join	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 forms	conj
11	to	to	ADP	_	13 backbone	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 backbone	det
13	backbone	backbone	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 joined	obl
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 ribs	cc
15	ribs	rib	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 backbone	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	form	present	the shell	part of shell's skeleton					vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location part=Theme
2	join	gerund · passive	the shell not said here					to the backbone and ribs	vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V PP.patient»: to backbone=Co-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/248-defences-skunks-porcupines-hedgehogs-and-armour/e2/