Test 1 · Defences: skunks, porcupines, hedgehogs and armour
In a Tom and Jerry style cartoon, a porcupine shoots quills like arrows and Tom gets stuck full of them from far away. What is right?
Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: porcupine, Tom · What happens: shoot, get, be · To what, where: quills, style cartoon
This is test 1 of lesson 248 «Defences: skunks, porcupines, hedgehogs and armour» of the biology course of Mova's primary school. 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
Sentence 1: In a Tom and Jerry style cartoon, a porcupine shoots quills like arrows and Tom gets stuck full of them from far away.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | In | in | ADP | _ | 7 cartoon | case |
| 2 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 cartoon | det |
| 3 | Tom | Tom | PROPN | Number=Sing | 6 style | compound |
| 4 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 5 Jerry | cc |
| 5 | Jerry | Jerry | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 Tom | conj |
| 6 | style | style | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 cartoon | compound |
| 7 | cartoon | cartoon | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 shoots | obl |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 7 cartoon | punct |
| 9 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 10 porcupine | det |
| 10 | porcupine | porcupine | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 shoots | nsubj |
| 11 | shoots | shoot | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 12 | quills | quill | NOUN | Number=Plur | 11 shoots | obj |
| 13 | like | like | ADP | _ | 14 arrows | case |
| 14 | arrows | arrow | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 quills | nmod |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 17 gets | cc |
| 16 | Tom | Tom | PROPN | Number=Sing | 17 gets | nsubj |
| 17 | gets | get | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 11 shoots | conj |
| 18 | stuck | stuck | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 19 full | amod |
| 19 | full | full | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 17 gets | xcomp |
| 20 | of | of | ADP | _ | 21 them | case |
| 21 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 full | obl |
| 22 | from | from | ADP | _ | 23 far | case |
| 23 | far | far | ADV | Degree=Pos | 24 away | advmod |
| 24 | away | away | ADV | _ | 17 gets | advmod |
| 25 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 11 shoots | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | shoot | present | a porcupine | quills | a style cartoon | like arrows | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent quill=Theme in cartoon=Destination | ||
| 2 | get | present | Tom | away, full property | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
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.
Sentence 2: What is right?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 3 right | nsubj |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 right | cop |
| 3 | right | right | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 4 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 3 right | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | right property | tree rules |
The options
Option 1
Porcupines can fire their quills more than a hundred metres
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Porcupines | porcupine | NOUN | Number=Plur | root | root |
| 2 | can | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 3 fire | aux |
| 3 | fire | fire | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Porcupines | conj |
| 4 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 5 quills | nmod:poss |
| 5 | quills | quill | NOUN | Number=Plur | 1 Porcupines | conj |
| 6 | more | more | ADJ | Degree=Cmp ExtPos=ADV | 9 hundred | advmod |
| 7 | than | than | ADP | _ | 6 more | fixed |
| 8 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 9 hundred | det |
| 9 | hundred | hundred | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 10 metres | nummod |
| 10 | metres | metre | NOUN | Number=Plur | 1 Porcupines | conj |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 2
Porcupines shoot quills only at cats
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Porcupines | porcupine | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 shoot | nsubj |
| 2 | shoot | shoot | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | quills | quill | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 shoot | obj |
| 4 | only | only | ADV | _ | 6 cats | advmod |
| 5 | at | at | ADP | _ | 6 cats | case |
| 6 | cats | cat | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 shoot | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | shoot | present | Porcupines | quills | at cats | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent quill=Theme at cat=Destination |
Option 3
Porcupines have no quills at all
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Porcupines | porcupine | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 have | nsubj |
| 2 | have | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 4 quills | det |
| 4 | quills | quill | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 have | obj |
| 5 | at | at | ADP | _ | 6 all | case |
| 6 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 2 have | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | have | present | Porcupines | no quills | all | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent quill=Patient |
Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer
Porcupines cannot shoot quills, they come out when touched
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Porcupines | porcupine | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 shoot | nsubj |
| 2 | can | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 4 shoot | aux |
| 3 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 4 shoot | advmod |
| 4 | shoot | shoot | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 5 | quills | quill | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 shoot | obj |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 come | punct |
| 7 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 come | nsubj |
| 8 | come | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 shoot | parataxis |
| 9 | out | out | ADV | _ | 8 come | advmod |
| 10 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 11 touched | advmod |
| 11 | touched | touch | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 8 come | advcl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not shoot | can | Porcupines | quills | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent quill=Theme | ||||
| 2 | come out | present | Porcupines = porcupine | out property | vn become-109.1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient | ||||
| 3 | touch | participle | Porcupines = porcupine not said here | vn contiguous_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
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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