Exam question 3 · Crocodiles and alligators

Ascertain the principal reason for which a crocodile is observed to rotate repeatedly in the water while grasping its prey.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, observe, rotate, grasp · To what, where: principal reason, crocodile, water, prey

This is exam question 3 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 observed	obl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 crocodile	det
8	crocodile	crocodile	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 observed	nsubj:pass
9	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 observed	aux:pass
10	observed	observe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 reason	acl:relcl
11	to	to	ADP	_	12 rotate	case
12	rotate	rotate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 observed	xcomp
13	repeatedly	repeatedly	ADV	_	10 observed	advmod
14	in	in	ADP	_	16 water	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 water	det
16	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 observed	obl
17	while	while	SCONJ	_	18 grasping	mark
18	grasping	grasp	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	10 observed	advcl
19	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	20 prey	nmod:poss
20	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 grasping	obj
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	observe	present · passive		a crocodile	the water	for the principal reason; repeatedly property	tree rules
3	rotate	infinitive					vn modes_of_being_with_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme
4	grasp	gerund		crocodile's prey			vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer prey=Stimulus

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 · ✓ the right answer

It is incapable of chewing and so tears off portions

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	3 incapable	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 incapable	cop
3	incapable	incapable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	of	of	SCONJ	_	5 chewing	mark
5	chewing	chew	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 incapable	advcl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 tears	cc
7	so	so	ADV	_	8 tears	advmod
8	tears	tear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 incapable	conj
9	off	off	ADP	_	8 tears	compound:prt
10	portions	portion	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 tears	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	present	It		incapable property	tree rules
2	chew	gerund				vn chew-39.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	tear off	present		portions		vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial_Location portion=Theme

Option 2

It is signalling to the other crocodiles that the prey is its own

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	3 signalling	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 signalling	aux
3	signalling	signall	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
4	to	to	ADP	_	7 crocodiles	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 crocodiles	det
6	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 crocodiles	amod
7	crocodiles	crocodile	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 signalling	obl
8	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 own	nsubj
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 prey	det
10	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 own	nsubj
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 own	cop
12	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 own	nmod:poss
13	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 crocodiles	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signall	present · progressive	It					to the other crocodiles	tree rules
2	is	present	the other crocodiles					own property	tree rules

Option 3

It seeks to render itself dizzy

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	2 seeks	nsubj
2	seeks	seek	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 render	mark
4	render	render	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 seeks	xcomp
5	itself	itself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	4 render	obj
6	dizzy	dizzy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 render	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	seek	present	It						tree rules
2	render not said to happen	to-infinitive		itself = it				dizzy property	vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent itself=Theme

Option 4

It is cleansing its prey

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	3 cleansing	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 cleansing	aux
3	cleansing	cleanse	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
4	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 prey	nmod:poss
5	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 cleansing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cleanse	present · progressive	It	its prey					vn groom-41.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent prey=Patient

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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