Exam question 4 · Sharks by kind, small and strange: walking sharks, wobbego…

Ascertain the nature of the object commonly designated a «mermaid's purse».

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, nature · What happens: ascertain, designate · To what, where: purse

This is exam question 4 of lesson 311 «Sharks by kind, small and strange: walking sharks, wobbegongs, cookiecutters and goblin sharks» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 nature	det
3	nature	nature	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 designated	nsubj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 object	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 object	det
6	object	object	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 nature	nmod
7	commonly	commonly	ADV	_	8 designated	advmod
8	designated	designate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	1 Ascertain	parataxis
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 purse	det
10	«	«	PUNCT	_	13 purse	punct
11	mermaid	mermaid	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 purse	nmod:poss
12	's	's	PART	_	11 mermaid	case
13	purse	purse	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 designated	obj
14	»	»	PUNCT	_	8 designated	punct
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here						vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
2	designate	past	the nature of the object	mermaid's purse				commonly property	vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent purse=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

The shell of a deep-sea crab

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 shell	det
2	shell	shell	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	8 crab	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 crab	det
5	deep	deep	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 sea	amod
6	-	-	PUNCT	_	5 deep	punct
7	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 crab	compound
8	crab	crab	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 shell	nmod

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

Option 2

The discarded skin of an adult shark

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 skin	det
2	discarded	discard	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 skin	amod
3	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 shark	case
5	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 shark	det
6	adult	adult	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 shark	compound
7	shark	shark	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 skin	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	discard	participle							vn throw-17.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 3

A form of seaweed resembling a pouch, in which small fish shelter from storms

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 form	det
2	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 shelter	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 seaweed	case
4	seaweed	seaweed	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 form	nmod
5	resembling	resemble	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 form	acl
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 pouch	det
7	pouch	pouch	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 resembling	obj
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 shelter	punct
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 which	case
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 shelter	obl
11	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 fish	amod
12	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 shelter	nsubj
13	shelter	shelter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
14	from	from	ADP	_	15 storms	case
15	storms	storm	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 shelter	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	resemble	gerund	a form of seaweed not said here	a pouch		tree rules
2	shelter	present	a form of seaweed		storms	vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in which=Location
3	form			seaweed		nom form «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The egg case of a catshark, skate or ray, anchored to seaweed by tendrils

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 case	det
2	egg	egg	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 case	compound
3	case	case	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 catshark	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 catshark	det
6	catshark	catshark	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 case	nmod
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 skate	punct
8	skate	skate	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 catshark	conj
9	or	or	CCONJ	_	10 ray	cc
10	ray	ray	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 skate	conj
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 anchored	punct
12	anchored	anchor	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 case	acl
13	to	to	ADP	_	14 seaweed	case
14	seaweed	seaweed	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 anchored	obl
15	by	by	ADP	_	16 tendrils	case
16	tendrils	tendril	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 anchored	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	anchor	participle		the egg case of a catshark and skate or ray not said here				to seaweed; by tendrils	vn tape-22.4 «NP V ADV-Middle PP»: agent=Patient to seaweed=Co-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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/311-sharks-by-kind-small-and-strange-walking-sharks-wobbegongs-cookiecutters-and-goblin-sharks/e4/