Exam question 1 · Mammoths and the Ice Age giants: sabre-tooths, ground slot…

Identify the principal adaptations of the woolly mammoth to a cold climate.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, woolly mammoth · What happens: identify, adapt · To what, where: principal adaptations

This is exam question 1 of lesson 272 «Mammoths and the Ice Age giants: sabre-tooths, ground sloths and woolly rhinos» 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 adaptations	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 adaptations	amod
4	adaptations	adaptation	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 mammoth	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 mammoth	det
7	woolly	woolly	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 mammoth	amod
8	mammoth	mammoth	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 adaptations	nmod
9	to	to	ADP	_	12 climate	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 climate	det
11	cold	cold	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 climate	amod
12	climate	climate	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obl
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal adaptations of the woolly mammoth				to a cold climate	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: agent=Agent adaptation=Theme to climate=be'
2	adapt		the woolly mammoth						nom adaptation «communication intransitive»: of=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

Webbed feet for swimming beneath the ice of frozen lakes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Webbed	web	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
2	feet	foot	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Webbed	obl:unmarked
3	for	for	ADP	_	4 swimming	case
4	swimming	swimming	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Webbed	obl
5	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	7 ice	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 ice	det
7	ice	ice	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Webbed	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 lakes	case
9	frozen	freeze	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 lakes	amod
10	lakes	lake	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 ice	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	web	participle		feet				for swimming; beneath the ice of frozen lakes	tree rules
2	freeze	participle							vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 2

Large ears and bare skin, which shed heat to prevent overheating

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Large	large	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 ears	amod
2	ears	ear	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 shed	nsubj
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 skin	cc
4	bare	bare	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 skin	amod
5	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 ears	conj
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 shed	punct
7	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 shed	nsubj
8	shed	shed	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 shed	obj
10	to	to	PART	_	11 prevent	mark
11	prevent	prevent	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 shed	advcl
12	overheating	overheat	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	11 prevent	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	shed	past	Large ears and bare skin	heat	vn substance_emission-43.4-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location heat=Source
2	prevent	to-infinitive	Large ears and bare skin not said here		vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Causer
3	overheat	gerund			vn cooking-45.3 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 3

A shell of bony plates which kept out the wind and the snow

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 shell	det
2	shell	shell	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 kept	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 plates	case
4	bony	bony	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 plates	amod
5	plates	plate	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 shell	nmod
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 kept	nsubj
7	kept	keep	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	out	out	ADP	_	7 kept	compound:prt
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 wind	det
10	wind	wind	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 kept	obj
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 snow	cc
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 snow	det
13	snow	snow	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 wind	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	keep out	past	a shell of bony plates	the wind and the snow					vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wind=Theme

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Small ears and a dense coat of hair, which retained bodily heat

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 ears	amod
2	ears	ear	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 retained	nsubj
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 coat	cc
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 coat	det
5	dense	dense	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 coat	amod
6	coat	coat	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 ears	conj
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 hair	case
8	hair	hair	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 coat	nmod
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 retained	punct
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 retained	nsubj
11	retained	retain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
12	bodily	bodily	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 heat	amod
13	heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 retained	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	retain	past	Small ears and a dense coat of hair	bodily heat					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/272-mammoths-and-the-ice-age-giants/e1/