Exam question 3 · Horses, zebras and donkeys

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the function of the zebra's stripes.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern · To what, where: response, function

This is exam question 3 of lesson 25 «Horses, zebras and donkeys» 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 function	det
11	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	16 stripes	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 zebra	det
14	zebra	zebra	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 stripes	nmod:poss
15	's	's	PART	_	14 zebra	case
16	stripes	stripe	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 function	nmod
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the function of the zebra's stripes		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus function=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.

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

They serve principally to retain heat during the cold of the night

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 serve	nsubj
2	serve	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	principally	principally	ADV	_	2 serve	advmod
4	to	to	PART	_	5 retain	mark
5	retain	retain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 serve	advcl
6	heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 retain	obj
7	during	during	ADP	_	9 cold	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 cold	det
9	cold	cold	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 retain	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 night	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 night	det
12	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 cold	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	serve	present	They					principally property	vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent
2	retain	to-infinitive	They not said here	heat			during the cold of the night		tree rules

Option 2

They indicate the age of each individual

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 indicate	nsubj
2	indicate	indicate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 age	det
4	age	age	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 indicate	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 individual	case
6	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	7 individual	det
7	individual	individual	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 age	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	indicate	present	They	the age of each individual					vn indicate-78-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot age=Topic

Option 3

They serve principally to frighten lions

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 serve	nsubj
2	serve	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	principally	principally	ADV	_	2 serve	advmod
4	to	to	PART	_	5 frighten	mark
5	frighten	frighten	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 serve	advcl
6	lions	lion	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 frighten	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	serve	present	They					principally property	vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent
2	frighten	to-infinitive	They not said here	lions					vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus lion=Experiencer

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

They appear chiefly to deter biting flies from alighting

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 appear	nsubj
2	appear	appear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	chiefly	chiefly	ADV	_	2 appear	advmod
4	to	to	PART	_	5 deter	mark
5	deter	deter	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 appear	xcomp
6	biting	bite	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 flies	amod
7	flies	fly	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 deter	obj
8	from	from	SCONJ	_	9 alighting	mark
9	alighting	alight	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 deter	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	appear	present	They		chiefly property	vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute
2	deter	to-infinitive	They not said here	biting flies		vn discourage-64.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer fly=Eventuality
3	bite	gerund				vn swat-18.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent
4	alight	gerund	They not said here			tree rules

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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