Exam question 4 · Defences: skunks, porcupines, hedgehogs and armour

Ascertain the conduct of the skunk prior to the discharge of its spray.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, conduct, discharge · To what, where: conduct, skunk, spray

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 conduct	det
3	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 skunk	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 skunk	det
6	skunk	skunk	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 conduct	nmod
7	prior	prior	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	10 discharge	case
8	to	to	ADP	_	7 prior	fixed
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 discharge	det
10	discharge	discharge	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 spray	case
12	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 spray	nmod:poss
13	spray	spray	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 discharge	nmod
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the conduct of the skunk	prior the discharge of discharge's spray	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent conduct=Topic
2	conduct			the skunk		nom conduct «act transitive»: of=patient
3	discharge			discharge's spray		nom discharge «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

It discharges its spray without any prior warning whatsoever, even at the faintest sound

The tree, 14 words

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 spray	nmod:poss
4	spray	spray	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 discharges	obj
5	without	without	ADP	_	8 warning	case
6	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	8 warning	det
7	prior	prior	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 warning	amod
8	warning	warning	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 discharges	obl
9	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	2 discharges	advmod
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 sound	punct
11	even	even	ADV	_	15 sound	advmod
12	at	at	ADP	_	15 sound	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 sound	det
14	faintest	faint	ADJ	Degree=Sup	15 sound	amod
15	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 discharges	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	discharge	present	It	its spray				without any prior warning; whatsoever property	vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spray=Theme

Option 2

It summons other skunks by a loud call

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 summons	nsubj
2	summons	summon	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 skunks	amod
4	skunks	skunk	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 summons	obj
5	by	by	ADP	_	8 call	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 call	det
7	loud	loud	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 call	amod
8	call	call	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 summons	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	summon	present	It	other skunks				by a loud call	vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent skunk=Recipient

Option 3

It retreats into a burrow and seals the entrance

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 retreats	nsubj
2	retreats	retreat	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	into	into	ADP	_	5 burrow	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 burrow	det
5	burrow	burrow	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 retreats	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 seals	cc
7	seals	seal	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 retreats	conj
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 entrance	det
9	entrance	entrance	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 seals	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	retreat	present	It			a burrow			vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme into burrow=Initial_Location
2	seal	present		the entrance					vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent entrance=Patient

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

It issues warnings by stamping, hissing and the raising of its tail

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 warnings	nsubj
2	issues	issue	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 warnings	compound
3	warnings	warning	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	by	by	SCONJ	_	5 stamping	mark
5	stamping	stamp	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 warnings	acl
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 hissing	punct
7	hissing	hiss	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 stamping	conj
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 raising	cc
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 raising	det
10	raising	raising	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 warnings	conj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 tail	case
12	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 tail	nmod:poss
13	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 raising	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	stamp	gerund	issues warnings and the raising of raising's tail not said here		vn image_impression-25.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	hiss	gerund	issues warnings and the raising of raising's tail not said here		vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	raise			raising's tail	nom raising «event 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.

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