Exam question 4 · Mammoths and the Ice Age giants: sabre-tooths, ground slot…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the animal popularly termed the Irish elk?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: animal · What happens: follow, characteris, term · To what, where: Irish elk

This is exam question 4 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	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 animal	det
10	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 termed	nsubj
11	popularly	popularly	ADV	_	12 termed	advmod
12	termed	term	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 characterises	ccomp
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 elk	det
14	Irish	Irish	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 elk	amod
15	elk	elk	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 termed	obj
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present			of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	term	past	the animal	the Irish elk	popularly property	vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent elk=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.

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

It was a horse of considerable size, so named for the shape of its long head

The tree, 16 words

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	4 horse	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 horse	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 horse	det
4	horse	horse	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 size	case
6	considerable	considerable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 size	amod
7	size	size	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 horse	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 named	punct
9	so	so	ADV	_	10 named	advmod
10	named	name	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 horse	acl
11	for	for	ADP	_	13 shape	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 shape	det
13	shape	shape	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 named	obl
14	of	of	ADP	_	17 head	case
15	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	17 head	nmod:poss
16	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 head	amod
17	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 shape	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	It	a horse				of considerable size	tree rules
2	name	participle		a horse not said here				for the shape of shape's long head	vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 2

It was an elk lacking antlers, distinguished only by its great height

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	4 elk	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 elk	cop
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 elk	det
4	elk	elk	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	lacking	lack	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 elk	acl
6	antlers	antler	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 lacking	obj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 distinguished	punct
8	distinguished	distinguish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 elk	acl
9	only	only	ADV	_	13 height	advmod
10	by	by	ADP	_	13 height	case
11	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 height	nmod:poss
12	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 height	amod
13	height	height	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 distinguished	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is a	past	It	a elk		tree rules
2	lack	gerund	a elk not said here	antlers		tree rules
3	distinguish	participle		a elk not said here	by elk's great height	vn distinguish-23.5-1 «NP V NP.theme PP.attribute»: agent=Agent by height=Attribute

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It was a giant deer bearing antlers of some three and a half metres, found well beyond Ireland

The tree, 18 words

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	5 deer	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 deer	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 deer	det
4	giant	giant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 deer	amod
5	deer	deer	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 found	ccomp
6	bearing	bear	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 deer	acl
7	antlers	antler	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 bearing	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 three	case
9	some	some	DET	PronType=Ind	10 three	det
10	three	three	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	7 antlers	nmod
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 metres	cc
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 half	det
13	half	half	NOUN	Number=Sing NumForm=Word NumType=Frac	14 metres	compound
14	metres	metre	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 three	conj
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 deer	punct
16	found	find	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
17	well	well	ADV	Degree=Pos	16 found	advmod
18	beyond	beyond	ADP	_	19 Ireland	case
19	Ireland	Ireland	PROPN	Number=Sing	16 found	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is a	past	It	a giant deer		tree rules
2	bear	gerund	a giant deer not said here	antlers of some three and half metres		vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent antler=Patient
3	find	past			beyond Ireland; well property	vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent

Option 4

It was a true elk confined entirely to Ireland, where it was hunted to extinction by farmers

The tree, 17 words

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	5 elk	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 elk	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 elk	det
4	true	true	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 elk	amod
5	elk	elk	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 confined	nsubj
6	confined	confine	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	6 confined	advmod
8	to	to	ADP	_	9 Ireland	case
9	Ireland	Ireland	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 confined	obl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 hunted	punct
11	where	where	ADV	PronType=Rel	14 hunted	advmod
12	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 hunted	nsubj:pass
13	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	14 hunted	aux:pass
14	hunted	hunt	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 confined	conj
15	to	to	ADP	_	16 extinction	case
16	extinction	extinction	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 hunted	obl
17	by	by	ADP	_	18 farmers	case
18	farmers	farmer	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 hunted	obl:agent

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	other	roles by
1	is a	past	It	a true elk			tree rules
2	confine	past	a true elk		Ireland	entirely property	vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent to ireland=Destination
3	hunt	past · passive	farmers	elk		to extinction	vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=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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