Exam question 3 · Whales
Ascertain the direction in which the tail flukes of a whale are moved in swimming.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, move · To what, where: direction, tail flukes
This is exam question 3 of lesson 26 «Whales» 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 direction | det |
| 3 | direction | direction | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Ascertain | obj |
| 4 | in | in | ADP | _ | 5 which | case |
| 5 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 13 moved | obl |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 flukes | det |
| 7 | tail | tail | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 flukes | compound |
| 8 | flukes | fluke | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 moved | nsubj |
| 9 | of | of | ADP | _ | 11 whale | case |
| 10 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 11 whale | det |
| 11 | whale | whale | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 flukes | nmod |
| 12 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 13 moved | aux:pass |
| 13 | moved | move | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 direction | acl:relcl |
| 14 | in | in | ADP | _ | 15 swimming | case |
| 15 | swimming | swimming | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 moved | obl |
| 16 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 Ascertain | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ascertain | imperative | you not said here | the direction | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent direction=Topic | ||||
| 2 | move | present · passive | the tail flukes of a whale | the direction | in swimming | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.agent V NP.theme PP.source PP.trajectory PP.destination»: subject=Theme in which=Source in swimming=Trajectory |
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 · ✓ the right answer
Vertically, that is, up and down
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vertically | vertically | ADV | _ | 6 up | advmod |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 Vertically | punct |
| 3 | that | that | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 6 up | nsubj |
| 4 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 6 up | cop |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 6 up | punct |
| 6 | up | up | ADV | _ | root | root |
| 7 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 8 down | cc |
| 8 | down | down | ADV | _ | 6 up | conj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | that | up, vertically property | tree rules |
Option 2
In a circular motion
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | In | in | ADP | _ | 4 motion | case |
| 2 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 4 motion | det |
| 3 | circular | circular | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 motion | amod |
| 4 | motion | motion | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 3
They are held motionless
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 | 3 held | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 held | aux:pass |
| 3 | held | hold | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | motionless | motionless | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 held | xcomp |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hold | present · passive | They | motionless property | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
Option 4
Laterally, that is, side to side
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Laterally | laterally | ADV | _ | 6 side | advmod |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 Laterally | punct |
| 3 | that | that | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 6 side | nsubj |
| 4 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 6 side | cop |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 6 side | punct |
| 6 | side | side | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 7 | to | to | ADP | _ | 8 side | case |
| 8 | side | side | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 side | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | that | side | to side; laterally property | 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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/26-whales/e3/