Exam question 3 · Turtles and tortoises

Identify the means by which the alligator snapping turtle secures its prey.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, the, alligator · What happens: identify, mean, snap, secure · To what, where: turtle, prey

This is exam question 3 of lesson 31 «Turtles and tortoises» 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 means	nsubj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Identify	ccomp
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 secures	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 alligator	det
7	alligator	alligator	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 secures	nsubj
8	snapping	snap	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 alligator	acl
9	turtle	turtle	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 snapping	obj
10	secures	secure	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 means	parataxis
11	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 prey	nmod:poss
12	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 secures	obj
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	mean	present	the		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
3	snap	gerund	the alligator not said here	turtle	vn sound_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location turtle=Theme
4	secure	present	the alligator	alligator's prey	vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition prey=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 construction of nets

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

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

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	construct			nets					nom construction «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

A worm-shaped lure upon the tongue

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 lure	det
2	worm	worm	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 shaped	compound
3	-	-	PUNCT	_	2 worm	punct
4	shaped	shape	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 lure	amod
5	lure	lure	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	8 tongue	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 tongue	det
8	tongue	tongue	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 lure	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	shape	participle							vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset

Option 3

Pursuit at considerable speed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Pursuit	Pursuit	PROPN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	at	at	ADP	_	4 speed	case
3	considerable	considerable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 speed	amod
4	speed	speed	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Pursuit	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4

The discharge of venom

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

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

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	discharge			venom					nom discharge «event 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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