Exam question 3 · The human body deeper: the brain and nerves

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the control exercised by each half of the brain over the body?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, exercise · To what, where: control, body

This is exam question 3 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 control	det
10	control	control	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	exercised	exercise	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 control	acl
12	by	by	ADP	_	14 half	case
13	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	14 half	det
14	half	half	NOUN	Number=Sing NumForm=Word NumType=Frac	11 exercised	obl
15	of	of	ADP	_	17 brain	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 brain	det
17	brain	brain	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 half	nmod
18	over	over	ADP	_	20 body	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 body	det
20	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 exercised	obl
21	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the control		of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	exercise	participle	the control not said here	the body	by each half of the brain	vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=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 left half governs the whole body during the day, the right half during the night

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 half	det
2	left	left	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 half	amod
3	half	half	NOUN	Number=Sing NumForm=Word NumType=Frac	4 governs	nsubj
4	governs	govern	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 body	det
6	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 body	amod
7	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 governs	obj
8	during	during	ADP	_	10 day	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 day	det
10	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 governs	obl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 half	punct
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 half	det
13	right	right	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 half	amod
14	half	half	NOUN	Number=Sing NumForm=Word NumType=Frac	10 day	conj
15	during	during	ADP	_	17 night	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 night	det
17	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 governs	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	govern	present	the left half	the whole body			day; night		vn supervision-95.2.2 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent body=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

Each half governs the same side of the body

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 half	det
2	half	half	NOUN	Number=Sing NumForm=Word NumType=Frac	3 governs	nsubj
3	governs	govern	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 side	det
5	same	same	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 side	amod
6	side	side	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 governs	obj
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 body	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 body	det
9	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 side	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	govern	present	each half	the same side of the body					vn supervision-95.2.2 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent side=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Each half governs principally the opposite side of the body, the nerves crossing in the brainstem

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 half	det
2	half	half	NOUN	Number=Sing NumForm=Word NumType=Frac	3 governs	nsubj
3	governs	govern	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	principally	principally	ADV	_	3 governs	advmod
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 side	det
6	opposite	opposite	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 side	amod
7	side	side	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 governs	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 body	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 body	det
10	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 side	nmod
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 crossing	punct
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 nerves	det
13	nerves	nerve	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 crossing	nsubj
14	crossing	cross	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 governs	conj
15	in	in	ADP	_	17 brainstem	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 brainstem	det
17	brainstem	brainstem	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 crossing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	govern	present	each half	the opposite side of the body				principally property	vn supervision-95.2.2 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent side=Theme
2	cross	gerund	the nerves			the brainstem			vn contiguous_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

The halves operate in complete independence of one another, exchanging no messages

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 halves	det
2	halves	half	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 operate	nsubj
3	operate	operate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 independence	case
5	complete	complete	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 independence	amod
6	independence	independence	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 operate	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 one	case
8	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	6 independence	appos
9	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	8 one	fixed
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 exchanging	punct
11	exchanging	exchange	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 operate	advcl
12	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	13 messages	det
13	messages	message	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 exchanging	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	operate	present	the halves			complete independence			vn function-105.2.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	exchange	gerund	the halves not said here	no messages					vn exchange-13.6.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent message=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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