Exam question 1 · The human body deeper: the brain and nerves

Identify the principal advantage conferred by a reflex action upon the withdrawal of the hand from a hot object.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, confer, withdraw · To what, where: principal advantage, hot object, hand

This is exam question 1 of lesson 260 «The human body deeper: the brain and nerves» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 advantage	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 advantage	amod
4	advantage	advantage	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	conferred	confer	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 advantage	acl
6	by	by	ADP	_	9 action	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 action	det
8	reflex	reflex	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 action	compound
9	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 conferred	obl
10	upon	upon	ADP	_	12 withdrawal	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 withdrawal	det
12	withdrawal	withdrawal	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obl
13	of	of	ADP	_	15 hand	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 hand	det
15	hand	hand	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 withdrawal	nmod
16	from	from	ADP	_	19 object	case
17	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	19 object	det
18	hot	hot	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 object	amod
19	object	object	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obl
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal advantage	a hot object	upon the withdrawal of the hand	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent advantage=Theme
2	confer	participle		the principal advantage not said here		by a reflex action	vn chit_chat-37.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	withdraw			the hand			nom withdrawal «communication 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 · ✓ the right answer

The order to withdraw is issued by the spinal cord without awaiting the brain, whereby time is saved

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 order	det
2	order	order	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 issued	nsubj:pass
3	to	to	PART	_	4 withdraw	mark
4	withdraw	withdraw	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 order	acl
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 issued	aux:pass
6	issued	issue	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	by	by	ADP	_	10 cord	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 cord	det
9	spinal	spinal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 cord	amod
10	cord	cord	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 issued	obl
11	without	without	SCONJ	_	12 awaiting	mark
12	awaiting	await	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 issued	advcl
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 brain	det
14	brain	brain	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 awaiting	obj
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	19 saved	punct
16	whereby	whereby	ADV	PronType=Int	19 saved	advmod
17	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 saved	nsubj:pass
18	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	19 saved	aux:pass
19	saved	save	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 issued	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	withdraw	to-infinitive	the spinal cord not said here	the order not said here		vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	issue	present · passive	the spinal cord	the order		vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location subject=Theme
3	await	gerund	the spinal cord not said here	the brain		tree rules
4	save	present · passive		time	whereby property	vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 2

The eyes direct the hand without the involvement of nerves, observing the heat and commanding the muscles directly

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 eyes	det
2	eyes	eye	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 direct	nsubj
3	direct	direct	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 hand	det
5	hand	hand	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 direct	obj
6	without	without	ADP	_	8 involvement	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 involvement	det
8	involvement	involvement	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 direct	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 nerves	case
10	nerves	nerve	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 involvement	nmod
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 observing	punct
12	observing	observe	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 direct	advcl
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 heat	det
14	heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 observing	obj
15	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 commanding	cc
16	commanding	command	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	12 observing	conj
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 muscles	det
18	muscles	muscle	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 commanding	obj
19	directly	directly	ADV	_	16 commanding	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	direct	present	the eyes	the hand	without the involvement of nerves	vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.predicate»: agent=Agent hand=Eventuality
2	observe	gerund	the eyes not said here	the heat		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent heat=Topic
3	command	gerund	the eyes not said here	the muscles	directly property	vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.predicate»: agent=Agent muscle=Eventuality
4	involve			nerves		nom involvement «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

The hand possesses an independent capacity for thought

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 hand	det
2	hand	hand	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 possesses	nsubj
3	possesses	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 capacity	det
5	independent	independent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 capacity	amod
6	capacity	capacity	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 possesses	obj
7	for	for	ADP	_	8 thought	case
8	thought	thought	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 capacity	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	present	the hand	a independent capacity				for thought	vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot capacity=Theme

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

The sensation of pain arrives prior to any movement

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 sensation	det
2	sensation	sensation	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 arrives	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 pain	case
4	pain	pain	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 sensation	nmod
5	arrives	arrive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	prior	prior	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	9 movement	case
7	to	to	ADP	_	6 prior	fixed
8	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	9 movement	det
9	movement	movement	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 arrives	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	arrive	present	the sensation of pain					prior any movement	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	sense			pain					nom sensation «cognition 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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