Test 11 · ★★ · Evolution: why giraffes really have long necks

«a whale is a big fish, always lived in the sea» What does the evidence show?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: whale, big fish · What happens: be, live, do · To what, where: big fish, sea, evidence show · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 11 · ★★ of lesson 278 «Evolution: why giraffes really have long necks» 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	«	«	PUNCT	_	7 fish	punct
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 whale	det
3	whale	whale	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 fish	nsubj
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 fish	cop
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 fish	det
6	big	big	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 fish	amod
7	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 lived	nsubj
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 fish	punct
9	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	10 lived	advmod
10	lived	live	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
11	in	in	ADP	_	13 sea	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 sea	det
13	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 lived	obl
14	»	»	PUNCT	_	10 lived	punct
15	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	16 does	nsubj
16	does	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 lived	parataxis
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 show	det
18	evidence	evidence	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 show	compound
19	show	show	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 does	obj
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	10 lived	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	is a in a quote	present	a whale	a big fish			tree rules
2	live in a quote	past	a big fish		the sea	always property	tree rules
3	do	present		the evidence show			vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent show=Eventuality

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

Whales came from sharks

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Whales	whale	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 came	nsubj
2	came	come	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	4 sharks	case
4	sharks	shark	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 came	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	come	past	Whales			sharks			vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from shark=Initial_Location

Option 2

Whales came from giant squid that lost their arms and grew a tail and flippers

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Whales	whale	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 came	nsubj
2	came	come	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	5 squid	case
4	giant	giant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 squid	amod
5	squid	squid	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 came	obl
6	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 lost	nsubj
7	lost	lose	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 squid	acl:relcl
8	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 arms	nmod:poss
9	arms	arm	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 lost	obj
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 grew	cc
11	grew	grow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 came	conj
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 tail	det
13	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 grew	obj
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 flippers	cc
15	flippers	flipper	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 tail	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	come	past	Whales		giant squid	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from squid=Initial_Location
2	lose	past	giant squid	Whales's arms		vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent arm=Eventuality
3	grow	past	Whales not said here	a tail and flippers		vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location tail=Theme

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Whales have no relatives at all

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Whales	whale	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 have	nsubj
2	have	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	4 relatives	det
4	relatives	relative	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 have	obj
5	at	at	ADP	_	6 all	case
6	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	4 relatives	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	have	present	Whales	no relatives		all			vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent relative=Patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Whales come from land mammals like Pakicetus that walked on four legs

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Whales	whale	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 come	nsubj
2	come	come	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	5 mammals	case
4	land	land	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 mammals	compound
5	mammals	mammal	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 come	obl
6	like	like	ADP	_	7 Pakicetus	case
7	Pakicetus	Pakicetus	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 mammals	nmod
8	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 walked	nsubj
9	walked	walk	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 mammals	acl:relcl
10	on	on	ADP	_	12 legs	case
11	four	four	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	12 legs	nummod
12	legs	leg	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 walked	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	come	present	Whales			land mammals like Pakicetus			vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from mammal=Initial_Location
2	walk	past	land mammals like Pakicetus			four legs			vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on leg=Trajectory

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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