Exam question 4 · Big snakes: pythons, boas and anacondas, and how big they…

Ascertain the reason for which a python may survive for many months without food following a large meal.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, python · What happens: ascertain, survive, follow · To what, where: reason, large meal

This is exam question 4 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	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	9 survive	obl
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 python	det
7	python	python	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 survive	nsubj
8	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	9 survive	aux
9	survive	survive	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 reason	acl:relcl
10	for	for	ADP	_	12 months	case
11	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 months	amod
12	months	month	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 survive	obl
13	without	without	ADP	_	14 food	case
14	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 survive	obl
15	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	9 survive	advcl
16	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	18 meal	det
17	large	large	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 meal	amod
18	meal	meal	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 following	obj
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	survive	may	a python		month	for the reason; without food	vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	follow	gerund	a python not said here	a large meal			vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meal=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 right answer

As a cold-blooded animal it expends very little energy

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	As	as	ADP	_	6 animal	case
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 animal	det
3	cold	cold	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 blooded	amod
4	-	-	PUNCT	_	3 cold	punct
5	blooded	blooded	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 animal	amod
6	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 expends	obl
7	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 expends	nsubj
8	expends	expend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	very	very	ADV	_	10 little	advmod
10	little	little	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 energy	amod
11	energy	energy	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 expends	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	expend	present	animal	little energy				as a blooded animal	tree rules

Option 2

It stores the prey alive within its body

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	2 stores	nsubj
2	stores	store	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 prey	det
4	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 stores	obj
5	alive	alive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 stores	xcomp
6	within	within	ADP	_	8 body	case
7	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 body	nmod:poss
8	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 stores	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	store	present	It	the prey				within prey's body; alive property	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent prey=Theme

Option 3

It obtains nourishment from vegetation during this period

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	2 obtains	nsubj
2	obtains	obtain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	nourishment	nourishment	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 obtains	obj
4	from	from	ADP	_	5 vegetation	case
5	vegetation	vegetation	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 obtains	obl
6	during	during	ADP	_	8 period	case
7	this	this	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	8 period	det
8	period	period	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 obtains	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	obtain	present	It	nourishment		vegetation	during this period		vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent nourishment=Theme from vegetation=Source

Option 4

It ceases all bodily activity until spring

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	2 ceases	nsubj
2	ceases	cease	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	all	all	ADV	_	4 bodily	advmod
4	bodily	bodily	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 activity	amod
5	activity	activity	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 ceases	obj
6	until	until	ADP	_	7 spring	case
7	spring	spring	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 ceases	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cease	present	It	bodily activity			spring		vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality activity=Eventuality

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/e4/