Exam question 4 · Whales by kind, the toothed whales: sperm whale, orca, bel…

Ascertain the reason for which certain species of beaked whale are known principally from stranded carcasses.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, know, strand · To what, where: reason, certain species, stranded carcasses

This is exam question 4 of lesson 313 «Whales by kind, the toothed whales: sperm whale, orca, beluga and beaked whales» 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 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 known	obl
6	certain	certain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 species	amod
7	species	species	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 known	nsubj:pass
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 whale	case
9	beaked	beaked	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 whale	amod
10	whale	whale	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 species	nmod
11	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 known	aux:pass
12	known	know	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 reason	parataxis
13	principally	principally	ADV	_	12 known	advmod
14	from	from	ADP	_	16 carcasses	case
15	stranded	strand	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	16 carcasses	amod
16	carcasses	carcass	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 known	obl
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	know	present · passive		certain species of beaked whale	stranded carcasses	for the reason; principally property	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus
3	strand	participle					tree rules

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

They became extinct before the invention of boats

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 became	nsubj
2	became	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	extinct	extinct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 became	xcomp
4	before	before	ADP	_	6 invention	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 invention	det
6	invention	invention	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 became	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 boats	case
8	boats	boat	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 invention	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	become	past	They				before the invention of boats	extinct property	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient
2	invent			boats					nom invention «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

They inhabit freshwater lakes inaccessible to scientists

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 inhabit	nsubj
2	inhabit	inhabit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	freshwater	freshwater	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 lakes	compound
4	lakes	lake	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 inhabit	obj
5	inaccessible	inaccessible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 inhabit	xcomp
6	to	to	ADP	_	7 scientists	case
7	scientists	scientist	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 inhabit	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	inhabit	present	They	freshwater lakes				to scientists; inaccessible property	tree rules

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

They dwell far from shore and dive to great depths, and are therefore rarely observed alive

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 dwell	nsubj
2	dwell	dwell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	far	far	ADV	Degree=Pos	2 dwell	advmod
4	from	from	ADP	_	5 shore	case
5	shore	shore	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 dwell	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 dive	cc
7	dive	dive	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 dwell	conj
8	to	to	ADP	_	10 depths	case
9	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 depths	amod
10	depths	depth	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 dive	obl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 observed	punct
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 observed	cc
13	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	16 observed	aux:pass
14	therefore	therefore	ADV	_	16 observed	advmod
15	rarely	rarely	ADV	_	16 observed	advmod
16	observed	observe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 dwell	parataxis
17	alive	alive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 observed	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	other	roles by
1	dwell	present	They	shore	far property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	dive	infinitive	They not said here	great depths		vn meander-47.7 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to depth=Location
3	observe	present · passive			alive, rarely, therefore property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»

Option 4

They emerge from the sea only at night

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 emerge	nsubj
2	emerge	emerge	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	5 sea	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 sea	det
5	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 emerge	obl
6	only	only	ADV	_	8 night	advmod
7	at	at	ADP	_	8 night	case
8	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 emerge	obl:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	emerge	present	They			the sea	night		vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from sea=Initial_Location

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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