Test 7 · ★★ · Natural selection we can watch: moths, finches, germs and…

In a cartoon, a mosquito puts on a gas mask and laughs at the bug spray. What is really happening when mosquitoes resist spray?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: mosquito, mosquitoes · What happens: put, laugh, happen, resist · To what, where: cartoon, bug spray, spray

This is test 7 · ★★ of lesson 279 «Natural selection we can watch: moths, finches, germs and tuskless elephants» 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

Sentence 1: In a cartoon, a mosquito puts on a gas mask and laughs at the bug spray.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	In	in	ADP	_	3 cartoon	case
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 cartoon	det
3	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 puts	obl
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 cartoon	punct
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 mosquito	det
6	mosquito	mosquito	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 puts	nsubj
7	puts	put	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	on	on	ADP	_	11 mask	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 mask	det
10	gas	gas	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 mask	compound
11	mask	mask	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 puts	obl
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 laughs	cc
13	laughs	laugh	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 puts	conj
14	at	at	ADP	_	17 spray	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 spray	det
16	bug	bug	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 spray	compound
17	spray	spray	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 laughs	obl
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	7 puts	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	put	present	a mosquito			a cartoon		on a gas mask	vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent on mask=Destination
2	laugh	present	a mosquito not said here			the bug spray			vn nonverbal_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=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.

Sentence 2: What is really happening when mosquitoes resist spray?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	4 happening	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 happening	aux
3	really	really	ADV	_	4 happening	advmod
4	happening	happen	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	7 resist	advmod
6	mosquitoes	mosquito	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 resist	nsubj
7	resist	resist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 happening	advcl
8	spray	spray	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 resist	obj
9	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 happening	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	happen	present · progressive							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	resist	present	mosquitoes	spray					tree rules

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

Each mosquito learns to hold its breath for longer every time it is sprayed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 mosquito	det
2	mosquito	mosquito	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 learns	nsubj
3	learns	learn	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 hold	mark
5	hold	hold	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 learns	xcomp
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 breath	nmod:poss
7	breath	breath	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 hold	obj
8	for	for	ADP	_	9 longer	case
9	longer	long	ADV	Degree=Cmp	5 hold	obl
10	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	11 time	det
11	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 hold	obl:unmarked
12	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 sprayed	nsubj:pass
13	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 sprayed	aux:pass
14	sprayed	spray	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 time	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	learn	present	each mosquito			vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	hold	to-infinitive	each mosquito not said here	mosquito's breath	time	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent breath=Theme
3	spray	present · passive	every time not said here	mosquito		vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: subject=Theme

Option 2

Mosquitoes wear tiny masks

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Mosquitoes	mosquito	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 wear	nsubj
2	wear	wear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	tiny	tiny	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 masks	amod
4	masks	mask	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 wear	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	wear	present	Mosquitoes	tiny masks					vn wipe_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent mask=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

A few already tough mosquitoes survive and breed until most are resistant

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 mosquitoes	det
2	few	few	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 mosquitoes	amod
3	already	already	ADV	_	4 tough	advmod
4	tough	tough	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 mosquitoes	amod
5	mosquitoes	mosquito	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 survive	nsubj
6	survive	survive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 breed	cc
8	breed	breed	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 survive	conj
9	until	until	SCONJ	_	12 resistant	mark
10	most	most	ADJ	Degree=Sup	12 resistant	nsubj
11	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 resistant	cop
12	resistant	resistant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 breed	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	survive	present	a few tough mosquitoes		vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	breed	present	a few tough mosquitoes not said here		tree rules
3	is	present	most	resistant property	tree rules

Option 4

The spray turns into food

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 spray	det
2	spray	spray	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 turns	nsubj
3	turns	turn	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	into	into	ADP	_	5 food	case
5	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 turns	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	turn	present	the spray			food			vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme into food=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/279-natural-selection-we-can-watch-moths-finches-germs-and-tuskless-elephants/t7/