Exam question 4 · A kitten at home: litter trays, scratching posts and play

Ascertain the danger presented to a kitten by string, thread or ribbon.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, present · To what, where: danger, kitten

This is exam question 4 of lesson 327 «A kitten at home: litter trays, scratching posts and play» 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 danger	det
3	danger	danger	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	presented	present	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 danger	acl
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 kitten	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 kitten	det
7	kitten	kitten	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 presented	obl
8	by	by	ADP	_	9 string	case
9	string	string	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 presented	obl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 thread	punct
11	thread	thread	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 string	conj
12	or	or	CCONJ	_	13 ribbon	cc
13	ribbon	ribbon	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 string	conj
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the danger					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent danger=Topic
2	present	participle		the danger not said here	a kitten			by string and thread or ribbon	vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to kitten=Recipient

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

Such items alter the colour of the eyes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 items	amod
2	items	item	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 alter	nsubj
3	alter	alter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 colour	det
5	colour	colour	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 alter	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 eyes	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 eyes	det
8	eyes	eye	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 colour	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	alter	present	Such items	the colour of the eyes					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent colour=Patient

Option 2

Such items cause the claws to fall out

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 items	amod
2	items	item	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 cause	nsubj
3	cause	cause	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 claws	det
5	claws	claw	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 cause	obj
6	to	to	PART	_	7 fall	mark
7	fall	fall	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 cause	advcl
8	out	out	ADP	_	7 fall	compound:prt

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cause	present	Such items	the claws					vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition claw=Patient
2	fall out	to-infinitive	Such items not said here						vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Such items may be swallowed and cause serious internal injury

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 items	amod
2	items	item	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 swallowed	nsubj:pass
3	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 swallowed	aux
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 swallowed	aux:pass
5	swallowed	swallow	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 cause	cc
7	cause	cause	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 swallowed	conj
8	serious	serious	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 injury	amod
9	internal	internal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 injury	amod
10	injury	injury	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 cause	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	swallow	may · passive		Such items					vn gobble-39.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient
2	cause	infinitive		serious internal injury					vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition injury=Patient

Option 4

Such items induce sneezing

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 items	amod
2	items	item	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 induce	nsubj
3	induce	induce	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	sneezing	sneezing	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 induce	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	induce	present	Such items	sneezing					vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sneezing=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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