Exam question 3 · Big snakes: pythons, boas and anacondas, and how big they…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the small spurs found near the tail of boas and pythons?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris, find · To what, where: small spurs, tail

This is exam question 3 of lesson 321 «Big snakes: pythons, boas and anacondas, and how big they really get» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 spurs	det
10	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 spurs	amod
11	spurs	spur	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obj
12	found	find	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 spurs	acl
13	near	near	ADP	_	15 tail	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 tail	det
15	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 found	obl
16	of	of	ADP	_	17 boas	case
17	boas	boa	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 tail	nmod
18	and	and	CCONJ	_	19 pythons	cc
19	pythons	python	NOUN	Number=Plur	17 boas	conj
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the small spurs		of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	find	participle	the small spurs not said here	the tail of boas and pythons		vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent

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 right answer

They are vestiges of the hind limbs of the limbed lizards from which snakes evolved

The tree, 15 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	3 vestiges	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 vestiges	cop
3	vestiges	vestige	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 evolved	nsubj
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 limbs	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 limbs	det
6	hind	hind	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 limbs	amod
7	limbs	limb	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 vestiges	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	11 lizards	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 lizards	det
10	limbed	limb	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 lizards	amod
11	lizards	lizard	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 limbs	nmod
12	from	from	ADP	_	13 which	case
13	which	which	DET	PronType=Int	14 snakes	det
14	snakes	snake	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 lizards	conj
15	evolved	evolve	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is a	present	They	vestiges	of the hind limbs of the limbed lizards and which snakes	tree rules
2	limb	participle				tree rules
3	evolve	past	vestiges			vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

They are newly evolving legs that will lengthen gradually in the course of future generations

The tree, 15 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	5 legs	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 legs	cop
3	newly	newly	ADV	_	5 legs	advmod
4	evolving	evolve	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 legs	amod
5	legs	leg	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
6	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 lengthen	nsubj
7	will	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	8 lengthen	aux
8	lengthen	lengthen	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 legs	acl:relcl
9	gradually	gradually	ADV	_	8 lengthen	advmod
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 course	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 course	det
12	course	course	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 lengthen	obl
13	of	of	ADP	_	15 generations	case
14	future	future	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 generations	amod
15	generations	generation	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 course	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	evolve	gerund					vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	is a	present	They	evolving legs		newly property	tree rules
3	lengthen	future	evolving legs		the course of future generations	gradually property	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 3

They are organs for the delivery of venom

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	3 organs	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 organs	cop
3	organs	organ	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	for	for	ADP	_	6 delivery	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 delivery	det
6	delivery	delivery	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 organs	nmod
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 venom	case
8	venom	venom	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 delivery	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	They	organs				for the delivery of venom	tree rules
2	deliver			venom					nom delivery «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

They are teeth that have migrated along the body

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	3 teeth	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 teeth	cop
3	teeth	tooth	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 migrated	nsubj:pass
5	have	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 migrated	aux
6	migrated	migrate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 teeth	acl:relcl
7	along	along	ADP	_	9 body	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 body	det
9	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 migrated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	They	teeth					tree rules
2	migrate	present · perfect · passive		teeth				along the body	tree rules

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/321-big-snakes-pythons-boas-and-anacondas-and-how-big-they-really-get/e3/