Exam question 4 · Defences: tricks and myths: playing dead, dropping tails,…

Ascertain the reason for which the shedding of the tail benefits a lizard pursued by a predator.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, shedding, tail · What happens: ascertain, benefit, pursue, shed · To what, where: reason, lizard

This is exam question 4 of lesson 249 «Defences: tricks and myths: playing dead, dropping tails, ink, and do ostriches bury their heads?» 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 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 benefits	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 shedding	det
7	shedding	shedding	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 benefits	nsubj
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 tail	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 tail	det
10	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 shedding	nmod
11	benefits	benefit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 reason	acl
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 lizard	det
13	lizard	lizard	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 benefits	obj
14	pursued	pursue	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 lizard	acl
15	by	by	ADP	_	17 predator	case
16	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 predator	det
17	predator	predator	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 pursued	obl
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	benefit	present	the shedding of the tail	a lizard	for the reason	vn benefit-72.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer lizard=Beneficiary
3	pursue	participle		a lizard not said here	by a predator	vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent by predator=Trajectory
4	shed		the tail			nom shedding «process intransitive»: of=agent

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 tail is venomous and poisons the predator

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 tail	det
2	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 venomous	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 venomous	cop
4	venomous	venomous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 poisons	cc
6	poisons	poison	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 venomous	conj
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 predator	det
8	predator	predator	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 poisons	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the tail					venomous property	tree rules
2	poison	present	the tail not said here	the predator					vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent predator=Patient

Option 2

The lizard thereby becomes invisible to its attacker

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 lizard	det
2	lizard	lizard	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 becomes	nsubj
3	thereby	thereby	ADV	_	4 becomes	advmod
4	becomes	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	invisible	invisible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 becomes	xcomp
6	to	to	ADP	_	8 attacker	case
7	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 attacker	nmod:poss
8	attacker	attacker	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 invisible	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	become	present	the lizard					invisible, thereby property	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The wriggling tail engages the attention of the predator whilst the lizard escapes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 tail	det
2	wriggling	wriggling	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 tail	compound
3	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 engages	nsubj
4	engages	engage	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 attention	det
6	attention	attention	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 engages	obj
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 predator	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 predator	det
9	predator	predator	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 attention	nmod
10	whilst	whilst	SCONJ	_	13 escapes	mark
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 lizard	det
12	lizard	lizard	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 escapes	nsubj
13	escapes	escape	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 engages	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	engage	present	the wriggling tail	the attention of the predator	vn amalgamate-22.2-3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent attention=Patient
2	escape	present	the lizard		vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	attend		the predator		nom attention «cognition intransitive»: of=agent

Option 4

The tail summons other lizards to its assistance, which then drive the predator away together

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 tail	det
2	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 summons	nsubj
3	summons	summon	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 lizards	amod
5	lizards	lizard	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 drive	nsubj
6	to	to	ADP	_	8 assistance	case
7	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 assistance	nmod:poss
8	assistance	assistance	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 lizards	nmod
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 drive	punct
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 drive	obj
11	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	12 drive	advmod
12	drive	drive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 summons	ccomp
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 predator	det
14	predator	predator	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 drive	obj
15	away	away	ADV	_	12 drive	advmod
16	together	together	ADV	_	12 drive	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	summon	present	the tail				vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	drive away	present	other lizards to tail's assistance	the predator	then	away, together property	vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Agent which=Theme predator=Destination
3	assist		tail				nom assistance «act transitive»: poss=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.

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