Exam question 1 · Frogs and toads near home: spawn, croaking choruses, toad…

Identify the characteristic by which the spawn of the common toad may be distinguished from that of the common frog.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, characteristic · What happens: identify, distinguish · To what, where: characteristic, spawn

This is exam question 1 of lesson 309 «Frogs and toads near home: spawn, croaking choruses, toad crossings and the fire-bellied toad» 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 characteristic	det
3	characteristic	characteristic	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	14 distinguished	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 spawn	det
7	spawn	spawn	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 distinguished	nsubj:pass
8	of	of	ADP	_	11 toad	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 toad	det
10	common	common	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 toad	amod
11	toad	toad	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 spawn	nmod
12	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	14 distinguished	aux
13	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	14 distinguished	aux:pass
14	distinguished	distinguish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 characteristic	acl:relcl
15	from	from	ADP	_	16 that	case
16	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	14 distinguished	obl
17	of	of	ADP	_	20 frog	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 frog	det
19	common	common	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 frog	amod
20	frog	frog	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 that	nmod
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the characteristic					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent characteristic=Theme
2	distinguish	may · passive	the characteristic	the spawn of the common toad				from the characteristic	vn distinguish-23.5-1 «NP V NP.theme PP.co-theme»: agent=Agent subject=Theme from that=Co-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

It is laid within burrows upon dry land

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 laid	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 laid	aux:pass
3	laid	lay	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	within	within	ADP	_	5 burrows	case
5	burrows	burrow	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 laid	obl
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	8 land	case
7	dry	dry	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 land	amod
8	land	land	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 laid	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lay	present · passive		It		dry land		within burrows	vn put_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme upon land=Destination

Option 2

It is laid in a single rounded clump of jelly near the surface

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 laid	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 laid	aux:pass
3	laid	lay	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	8 clump	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 clump	det
6	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 clump	amod
7	rounded	round	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 clump	amod
8	clump	clump	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 laid	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 jelly	case
10	jelly	jelly	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 clump	nmod
11	near	near	ADP	_	13 surface	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 surface	det
13	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 jelly	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lay	present · passive		It		a single rounded clump of jelly near the surface			vn put_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in clump=Destination
2	round	participle							vn bend-45.2 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It is laid in long strings bearing a double row of eggs

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 laid	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 laid	aux:pass
3	laid	lay	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 strings	case
5	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 strings	amod
6	strings	string	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 laid	obl
7	bearing	bear	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 strings	acl
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 row	det
9	double	double	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 row	amod
10	row	row	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 bearing	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 eggs	case
12	eggs	egg	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 row	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lay	present · passive		It		long strings			vn put_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in string=Destination
2	bear	gerund	long strings not said here	a double row of eggs					vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent row=Patient

Option 4

It is laid singly upon the surface of the water

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 laid	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 laid	aux:pass
3	laid	lay	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	singly	singly	ADV	_	3 laid	advmod
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 surface	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 surface	det
7	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 laid	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 water	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 water	det
10	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 surface	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lay	present · passive		It		the surface of the water		singly property	vn put_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme upon surface=Destination

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/309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad/e1/