Test 10 · ★ · Dolphins, porpoises and seals

Why would sound be more useful than eyes for a dolphin hunting in a muddy river?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: sound, be

This is test 10 · ★ of lesson 27 «Dolphins, porpoises and seals» 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

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	3 sound	advmod
2	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 sound	aux
3	sound	sound	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 useful	advcl
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 useful	cop
5	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	6 useful	advmod
6	useful	useful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
7	than	than	ADP	_	8 eyes	case
8	eyes	eye	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 useful	obl
9	for	for	ADP	_	12 hunting	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 hunting	det
11	dolphin	dolphin	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 hunting	compound
12	hunting	hunting	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 useful	obl
13	in	in	ADP	_	16 river	case
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 river	det
15	muddy	muddy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 river	amod
16	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 hunting	nmod
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 useful	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sound	would	you not said here						vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus
2	is	imperative	you not said here					than eyes; for a dolphin hunting in a muddy river; useful property	tree rules

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

Eyes don't work in salt water, so dolphins never use them at all

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Eyes	eye	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 work	nsubj
2	do	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 work	aux
3	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 work	advmod
4	work	work	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 water	case
6	salt	salt	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 water	compound
7	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 work	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 use	punct
9	so	so	ADV	_	12 use	advmod
10	dolphins	dolphin	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 use	nsubj
11	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	12 use	advmod
12	use	use	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 work	conj
13	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 use	obj
14	at	at	ADP	_	15 all	case
15	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	12 use	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not work	present · do-support	Eyes					in salt water	vn employment-95.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in water=Theme
2	not use	present	dolphins	Eyes = eye		all			vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient

Option 2

Fish can't hear clicks

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 hear	nsubj
2	ca	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 hear	aux
3	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 hear	advmod
4	hear	hear	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	clicks	click	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 hear	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not hear	can	Fish	clicks					vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer click=Stimulus

Option 3

Dolphins are blind

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Dolphins	dolphin	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 blind	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 blind	cop
3	blind	blind	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Dolphins					blind property	tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Sound travels well in water but you can't see far in mud

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 travels	nsubj
2	travels	travel	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	well	well	ADV	Degree=Pos	2 travels	advmod
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 water	case
5	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 travels	obl
6	but	but	CCONJ	_	10 see	cc
7	you	you	PRON	Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs	10 see	nsubj
8	ca	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	10 see	aux
9	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	10 see	advmod
10	see	see	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 travels	conj
11	far	far	ADV	Degree=Pos	10 see	advmod
12	in	in	ADP	_	13 mud	case
13	mud	mud	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 see	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	travel	present	Sound			water		well property	vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in water=Trajectory
2	not see	can	you			mud		far property	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer

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/27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals/t10/