Exam question 1 · Frogs of the world: tree frogs, glass frogs, flying frogs…

Identify the mechanism by which the toe pads of tree frogs adhere to smooth surfaces.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, toe pads · What happens: identify, adhere, smooth · To what, where: mechanism, surfaces

This is exam question 1 of lesson 308 «Frogs of the world: tree frogs, glass frogs, flying frogs and the goliath frog» 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 mechanism	det
3	mechanism	mechanism	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 adhere	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 pads	det
7	toe	toe	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 pads	compound
8	pads	pad	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 adhere	nsubj
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 frogs	case
10	tree	tree	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 frogs	compound
11	frogs	frog	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 pads	nmod
12	adhere	adhere	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 mechanism	acl:relcl
13	to	to	PART	_	14 smooth	mark
14	smooth	smooth	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 adhere	xcomp
15	surfaces	surface	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 smooth	obj
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the mechanism		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent mechanism=Theme
2	adhere	present	the toe pads of tree frogs		by the mechanism	tree rules
3	smooth	to-infinitive	the toe pads of tree frogs not said here	surfaces		vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent surface=Patient

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

A permanent glue secreted by the claws

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 glue	det
2	permanent	permanent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 glue	amod
3	glue	glue	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	secreted	secrete	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 glue	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 claws	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 claws	det
7	claws	claw	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 secreted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	secrete	participle		a permanent glue not said here				by the claws	tree rules

Option 2

Microscopic hooks that penetrate the surface

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Microscopic	microscopic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 hooks	amod
2	hooks	hook	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 penetrate	nsubj
4	penetrate	penetrate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 hooks	acl:relcl
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 surface	det
6	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 penetrate	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	penetrate	present	Microscopic hooks	the surface					vn poke-19 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent surface=Patient

Option 3

Suction generated by the lungs of the frog

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Suction	suction	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	generated	generate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Suction	acl
3	by	by	ADP	_	5 lungs	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 lungs	det
5	lungs	lung	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 generated	obl
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 frog	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 frog	det
8	frog	frog	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 lungs	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	generate	participle		Suction not said here				by the lungs of the frog	vn grow-26.2.1 «NP.patient V PP.product»: agent=Patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Minute hexagonal cells separated by mucus, gripping in the manner of a wet tyre

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Minute	minute	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 cells	amod
2	hexagonal	hexagonal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 cells	amod
3	cells	cell	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	separated	separate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 cells	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 mucus	case
6	mucus	mucus	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 separated	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 gripping	punct
8	gripping	grip	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 cells	acl
9	in	in	ADP	_	11 manner	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 manner	det
11	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 gripping	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	15 tyre	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 tyre	det
14	wet	wet	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 tyre	amod
15	tyre	tyre	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 manner	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	separate	participle		Minute hexagonal cells not said here				by mucus	vn separate-23.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient
2	grip	gerund	Minute hexagonal cells not said here			the manner of a wet tyre			vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP»: agent=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/308-frogs-of-the-world-tree-frogs-glass-frogs-flying-frogs-and-the-goliath-frog/e1/