Exam question 4 · Megalodon and the giants of the sea, past and present

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the dentition of sharks?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: dentition

This is exam question 4 of lesson 273 «Megalodon and the giants of the sea, past and present» 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 dentition	det
10	dentition	dentition	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 sharks	case
12	sharks	shark	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 dentition	nmod
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the dentition of sharks				of the following statements; accurately 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

Each shark possesses a single set of teeth which must serve for the whole of its life

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 shark	det
2	shark	shark	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 possesses	nsubj
3	possesses	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 set	det
5	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 set	amod
6	set	set	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 possesses	obj
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 teeth	case
8	teeth	tooth	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 set	nmod
9	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 serve	nsubj
10	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	11 serve	aux
11	serve	serve	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 set	acl:relcl
12	for	for	ADP	_	14 whole	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 whole	det
14	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 serve	obl
15	of	of	ADP	_	17 life	case
16	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	17 life	nmod:poss
17	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 whole	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	present	each shark	a single set of teeth					vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot set=Theme
2	serve	must	a single set of teeth					for the whole	vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent for whole=Recipient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Teeth are shed and replaced continually, thousands being produced over a lifetime

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Teeth	tooth	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 shed	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 shed	aux:pass
3	shed	shed	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 replaced	cc
5	replaced	replace	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 shed	conj
6	continually	continually	ADV	_	5 replaced	advmod
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 produced	punct
8	thousands	thousand	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 produced	nsubj:pass
9	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	10 produced	aux:pass
10	produced	produce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 shed	conj
11	over	over	ADP	_	13 lifetime	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 lifetime	det
13	lifetime	lifetime	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 produced	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	shed	present · passive	Teeth			vn substance_emission-43.4-1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Source
2	replace	participle			continually property	vn substitute-13.6.2-1 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme
3	produce	gerund · passive	thousands	a lifetime		vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: subject=Result

Option 3

Teeth are replaced only once, in old age

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Teeth	tooth	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 replaced	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 replaced	aux:pass
3	replaced	replace	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	only	only	ADV	_	5 once	advmod
5	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	3 replaced	advmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 age	punct
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 age	case
8	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 age	amod
9	age	age	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 replaced	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	replace	present · passive		Teeth			in old age	once property	vn substitute-13.6.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Co-Theme

Option 4

Sharks are entirely without teeth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Sharks	shark	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 teeth	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 teeth	cop
3	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	5 teeth	advmod
4	without	without	ADP	_	5 teeth	case
5	teeth	tooth	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Sharks					without teeth; entirely property	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.

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