Exam question 1 · Crocodiles and alligators

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the distinction between the snout of an alligator and that of a crocodile?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: distinction

This is exam question 1 of lesson 29 «Crocodiles and alligators» 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 distinction	det
10	distinction	distinction	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	between	between	ADP	_	13 snout	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 snout	det
13	snout	snout	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 distinction	nmod
14	of	of	ADP	_	16 alligator	case
15	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 alligator	det
16	alligator	alligator	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 snout	nmod
17	and	and	CCONJ	_	18 that	cc
18	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	10 distinction	conj
19	of	of	ADP	_	21 crocodile	case
20	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	21 crocodile	det
21	crocodile	crocodile	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 that	nmod
22	?	?	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 distinction				of the following statements; between the snout of a alligator; 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

The crocodile possesses a beak

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 crocodile	det
2	crocodile	crocodile	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	5 beak	det
5	beak	beak	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 possesses	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	present	the crocodile	a beak					vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot beak=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The alligator's is broad and U-shaped; the crocodile's is narrower and V-shaped

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 alligator	det
2	alligator	alligator	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 broad	nsubj
3	's	's	PART	_	2 alligator	case
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 broad	cop
5	broad	broad	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 shaped	cc
7	U	U	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 shaped	compound
8	-	-	PUNCT	_	7 U	punct
9	shaped	shape	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 broad	conj
10	;	;	PUNCT	_	15 narrower	punct
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 crocodile	det
12	crocodile	crocodile	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 narrower	nsubj
13	's	's	PART	_	12 crocodile	case
14	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 narrower	cop
15	narrower	narrow	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	5 broad	parataxis
16	and	and	CCONJ	_	19 shaped	cc
17	V	v	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 shaped	compound
18	-	-	PUNCT	_	17 V	punct
19	shaped	shape	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	15 narrower	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	is	present	the alligator	broad property	tree rules
2	shape	participle	the alligator not said here		vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset
3	is	present	the crocodile	narrow property	tree rules
4	shape	participle	the crocodile not said here		vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset

Option 3

The alligator's is narrow; the crocodile's is broad and square

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 alligator	det
2	alligator	alligator	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 narrow	nsubj
3	's	's	PART	_	2 alligator	case
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 narrow	cop
5	narrow	narrow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	;	;	PUNCT	_	11 broad	punct
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 crocodile	det
8	crocodile	crocodile	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 broad	nsubj
9	's	's	PART	_	8 crocodile	case
10	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 broad	cop
11	broad	broad	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 narrow	conj
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 square	cc
13	square	square	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 broad	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	is	present	the alligator	narrow property	tree rules
2	is	present	the crocodile	broad property	tree rules
3	be		the crocodile not said here		tree rules

Option 4

Both are identical in every respect

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Both	both	DET	PronType=Tot	3 identical	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 identical	cop
3	identical	identical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 respect	case
5	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	6 respect	det
6	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 identical	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Both			every respect		identical 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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