Exam question 1 · Bees beyond the hive: bumblebees, solitary bees, carpenter…

Identify the reason for which male bees are incapable of stinging.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, male bees · What happens: identify, be, sting · To what, where: reason

This is exam question 1 of lesson 305 «Bees beyond the hive: bumblebees, solitary bees, carpenter bees and stingless bees» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 incapable	obl
6	male	male	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 bees	amod
7	bees	bee	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 incapable	nsubj
8	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 incapable	cop
9	incapable	incapable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 reason	acl
10	of	of	SCONJ	_	11 stinging	mark
11	stinging	sting	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	9 incapable	advcl
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the reason		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	is	present	male bees		for the reason; incapable property	tree rules
3	sting	gerund	male bees not said here			vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer

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

Male bees possess a sting too short to penetrate skin

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Male	male	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 bees	amod
2	bees	bee	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 possess	nsubj
3	possess	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 sting	det
5	sting	sting	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 possess	obj
6	too	too	ADV	_	7 short	advmod
7	short	short	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 sting	amod
8	to	to	PART	_	9 penetrate	mark
9	penetrate	penetrate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 short	xcomp
10	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 penetrate	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	present	Male bees	a sting					vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot sting=Theme
2	penetrate	to-infinitive	Male bees not said here	skin					vn poke-19 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent skin=Patient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

Male bees are forbidden to sting by the queen

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Male	male	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 bees	amod
2	bees	bee	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 forbidden	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 forbidden	aux:pass
4	forbidden	forbid	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 sting	mark
6	sting	sting	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 forbidden	xcomp
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 queen	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 queen	det
9	queen	queen	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 sting	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	forbid	present · passive		Male bees					tree rules
2	sting	to-infinitive						by the queen	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The sting is a modified egg-laying organ possessed only by females

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 sting	det
2	sting	sting	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 organ	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 organ	cop
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 organ	det
5	modified	modify	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 organ	amod
6	egg	egg	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 laying	compound
7	-	-	PUNCT	_	6 egg	punct
8	laying	lay	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	9 organ	amod
9	organ	organ	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
10	possessed	possess	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 organ	acl
11	only	only	ADV	_	10 possessed	advmod
12	by	by	ADP	_	13 females	case
13	females	female	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 possessed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	modify	participle				vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
2	lay	gerund				vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	is a	present	the sting	a modified laying organ		tree rules
4	possess	participle		a modified laying organ not said here	by females	vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot

Option 4

Male bees shed their stings upon reaching adulthood

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Male	male	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 bees	amod
2	bees	bee	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 shed	nsubj
3	shed	shed	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 stings	nmod:poss
5	stings	sting	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 shed	obj
6	upon	upon	SCONJ	_	7 reaching	mark
7	reaching	reach	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 shed	advcl
8	adulthood	adulthood	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 reaching	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	shed	past	Male bees	bees's stings	vn substance_emission-43.4-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location sting=Source
2	reach	gerund	Male bees not said here	adulthood	vn body_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent adulthood=Theme
3	sting		bees = bee		nom sting «state transitive»: poss=agent

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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