Exam question 4 · Cats through history: Egypt's sacred cats, ship cats and T…

Ascertain the principal reason for which cats were carried aboard ships.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, carry · To what, where: principal reason, cats

This is exam question 4 of lesson 294 «Cats through history: Egypt's sacred cats, ship cats and Tom and Jerry» 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	9 carried	obl
7	cats	cat	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 carried	nsubj:pass
8	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 carried	aux:pass
9	carried	carry	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 reason	acl:relcl
10	aboard	aboard	ADP	_	11 ships	case
11	ships	ship	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 carried	obl
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	carry	past · passive		cats				for the principal reason; aboard ships	vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

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 prediction of storms

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 prediction	det
2	prediction	prediction	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 storms	case
4	storms	storm	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 prediction	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	predict			storms					nom prediction «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

The provision of meat for the crew

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 provision	det
2	provision	provision	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 meat	case
4	meat	meat	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 provision	nmod
5	for	for	ADP	_	7 crew	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 crew	det
7	crew	crew	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 provision	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	provide		meat					for the crew	nom provision «communication intransitive»: of=agent for=obl

Option 3

The navigation of the vessel by night

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 navigation	det
2	navigation	navigation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 vessel	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 vessel	det
5	vessel	vessel	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 navigation	nmod
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 night	case
7	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 navigation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	navigate		night	the vessel					nom navigation «act transitive»: of=patient by=agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The destruction of rats that consumed provisions and rope

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 destruction	det
2	destruction	destruction	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 consumed	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 rats	case
4	rats	rat	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 destruction	nmod
5	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 consumed	nsubj
6	consumed	consume	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	provisions	provision	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 consumed	obj
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 rope	cc
9	rope	rope	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 provisions	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	consume	past	the destruction of rats	provisions and rope					vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent provision=Asset
2	destroy			rats					nom destruction «act transitive»: of=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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