Exam question 4 · Snakes and lizards

It is given that a lizard's tail is seized by a predator. Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the outcome.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: predator, you, established facts · What happens: give, seize, select, establish, concern · To what, where: It, tail, response, outcome

This is exam question 4 of lesson 30 «Snakes and lizards» 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

Sentence 1: It is given that a lizard's tail is seized by a predator.

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 given	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 given	aux:pass
3	given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	that	that	SCONJ	_	10 seized	mark
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 lizard	det
6	lizard	lizard	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 tail	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 lizard	case
8	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 seized	nsubj:pass
9	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 seized	aux:pass
10	seized	seize	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 given	advcl
11	by	by	ADP	_	13 predator	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 predator	det
13	predator	predator	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 seized	obl
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 given	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	present · passive		It					vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	seize	present · passive	a predator	a lizard's tail					vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent 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.

Sentence 2: Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the outcome.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 outcome	det
11	outcome	outcome	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the outcome		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus outcome=Experiencer

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

The tail becomes venomous

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 tail	det
2	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 becomes	nsubj
3	becomes	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	venomous	venomous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 becomes	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	become	present	the tail					venomous property	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient

Option 2

The lizard invariably perishes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 lizard	det
2	lizard	lizard	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 perishes	nsubj
3	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	4 perishes	advmod
4	perishes	perish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	perish	present	the lizard					invariably property	vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The tail may be shed and continue to wriggle while the lizard escapes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 tail	det
2	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 shed	nsubj:pass
3	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 shed	aux
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 shed	aux:pass
5	shed	shed	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 continue	cc
7	continue	continue	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 shed	conj
8	to	to	PART	_	9 wriggle	mark
9	wriggle	wriggle	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 continue	xcomp
10	while	while	SCONJ	_	13 escapes	mark
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 lizard	det
12	lizard	lizard	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 escapes	nsubj
13	escapes	escape	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 wriggle	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	shed	may · passive		the tail	vn substance_emission-43.4-1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Source
2	continue	infinitive			vn continue-55.3 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
3	wriggle	to-infinitive			vn body_internal_motion-49.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
4	escape	present	the lizard		vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

The predator is thereby hypnotised and forgets the lizard

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 predator	det
2	predator	predator	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 hypnotised	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 hypnotised	aux:pass
4	thereby	thereby	ADV	_	5 hypnotised	advmod
5	hypnotised	hypnotis	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 forgets	cc
7	forgets	forget	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 hypnotised	conj
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 lizard	det
9	lizard	lizard	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 forgets	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hypnotis	present · passive		the predator				thereby property	tree rules
2	forget	present		the lizard					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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/30-snakes-and-lizards/e4/