Test 8 · Tyrannosaurus rex: what we really know, from teeth and dun…

A T. rex in a cartoon opens its mouth and roars like a lion. What do scientists think?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: T. rex, scientists · What happens: open, roar, think · To what, where: mouth

This is test 8 of lesson 265 «Tyrannosaurus rex: what we really know, from teeth and dung to tiny arms» of the biology course of Mova's primary school. 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

Sentence 1: A T. rex in a cartoon opens its mouth and roars like a lion.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 rex	det
2	T.	T.	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 rex	compound
3	rex	rex	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 opens	nsubj
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 cartoon	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 cartoon	det
6	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 rex	nmod
7	opens	open	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 mouth	nmod:poss
9	mouth	mouth	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 opens	obj
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 roars	cc
11	roars	roar	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 opens	conj
12	like	like	ADP	_	14 lion	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 lion	det
14	lion	lion	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 roars	obl
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	7 opens	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	open	present	a T. rex in a cartoon	rex's mouth					vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location mouth=Theme
2	roar	present	a T. rex in a cartoon not said here					like a lion	vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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.

Sentence 2: What do scientists think?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	4 think	obj
2	do	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 think	aux
3	scientists	scientist	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 think	nsubj
4	think	think	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 think	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	think speech: other	present · do-support	scientists						vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot what=Theme

The options

Option 1

It sang like a songbird

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 sang	nsubj
2	sang	sing	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	like	like	ADP	_	5 songbird	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 songbird	det
5	songbird	songbird	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 sang	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sing speech: express	past	It					like a songbird	vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

It roared exactly like a lion, and scientists have recordings of the sound

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 roared	nsubj
2	roared	roar	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	exactly	exactly	ADV	_	6 lion	advmod
4	like	like	ADP	_	6 lion	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 lion	det
6	lion	lion	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 roared	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 have	punct
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 have	cc
9	scientists	scientist	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 have	nsubj
10	have	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 roared	conj
11	recordings	recording	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 have	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 sound	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 sound	det
14	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 recordings	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	roar	past	It					like a lion	vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	have	present	scientists	recordings of the sound					vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent recording=Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Nobody knows its voice; it may have rumbled with its mouth shut like birds and crocodiles

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	2 knows	nsubj
2	knows	know	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 voice	nmod:poss
4	voice	voice	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 knows	obj
5	;	;	PUNCT	_	9 rumbled	punct
6	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 rumbled	nsubj
7	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	9 rumbled	aux
8	have	have	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	9 rumbled	aux
9	rumbled	rumble	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	2 knows	conj
10	with	with	ADP	_	12 mouth	case
11	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 mouth	nmod:poss
12	mouth	mouth	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 rumbled	obl
13	shut	shut	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 rumbled	xcomp
14	like	like	ADP	_	15 birds	case
15	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 shut	obl
16	and	and	CCONJ	_	17 crocodiles	cc
17	crocodiles	crocodile	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 birds	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	know	present	Nobody	its voice		vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer voice=Stimulus
2	rumble	may · perfect	voice		with voice's mouth	vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	shut	participle	voice not said here		like birds and crocodiles	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 4

It squeaked like a mouse

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 squeaked	nsubj
2	squeaked	squeak	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	like	like	ADP	_	5 mouse	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 mouse	det
5	mouse	mouse	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 squeaked	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	squeak	past	It					like a mouse	vn animal_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/265-tyrannosaurus-rex-teeth-dung-and-tiny-arms/t8/