Exam question 1 · The park pond through the year: ducks, coots, swans, drago…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the distinction between the coot and the moorhen?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: distinction

This is exam question 1 of lesson 337 «The park pond through the year: ducks, coots, swans, dragonflies and ice» 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	10 distinction	det
10	distinction	distinction	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	between	between	ADP	_	13 coot	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 coot	det
13	coot	coot	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 distinction	nmod
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 moorhen	cc
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 moorhen	det
16	moorhen	moorhen	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 coot	conj
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the distinction				of the following statements; between the coot and the moorhen; accurately property	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

The two birds are indistinguishable in all respects

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 birds	det
2	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	3 birds	nummod
3	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 indistinguishable	nsubj
4	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 indistinguishable	cop
5	indistinguishable	indistinguishable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 respects	case
7	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	8 respects	det
8	respects	respects	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 indistinguishable	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the two birds			all respects		indistinguishable property	tree rules

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The coot bears a white bill and frontal patch, whereas the moorhen bears a bill of red and yellow

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 bears	det
2	coot	coot	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 bears	compound
3	bears	bear	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 bill	det
5	white	white	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 bill	amod
6	bill	bill	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 bears	nmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 patch	cc
8	frontal	frontal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 patch	amod
9	patch	patch	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 bill	conj
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 bears	punct
11	whereas	whereas	SCONJ	_	14 bears	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 bears	det
13	moorhen	moorhen	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 bears	compound
14	bears	bear	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 bill	appos
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 bill	det
16	bill	bill	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 bears	conj
17	of	of	ADP	_	18 red	case
18	red	red	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 bill	nmod
19	and	and	CCONJ	_	20 yellow	cc
20	yellow	yellow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 red	conj

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

Option 3

The moorhen possesses lobed toes, whereas the coot possesses webbed feet

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 moorhen	det
2	moorhen	moorhen	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 possesses	nsubj
3	possesses	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	lobed	lobe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 toes	amod
5	toes	toe	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 possesses	obj
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 possesses	punct
7	whereas	whereas	SCONJ	_	10 possesses	mark
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 coot	det
9	coot	coot	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 possesses	nsubj
10	possesses	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 possesses	conj
11	webbed	web	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 feet	amod
12	feet	foot	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 possesses	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	possess	present	the moorhen	lobed toes	vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot toe=Theme
2	lobe	participle			tree rules
3	possess	present	the coot	webbed feet	vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot foot=Theme
4	web	participle			tree rules

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

The coot is white in plumage, whereas the moorhen is black

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 coot	det
2	coot	coot	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 white	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 white	cop
4	white	white	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 plumage	case
6	plumage	plumage	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 white	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 black	punct
8	whereas	whereas	SCONJ	_	12 black	mark
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 moorhen	det
10	moorhen	moorhen	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 black	nsubj
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 black	cop
12	black	black	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 white	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the coot			plumage		white property	tree rules
2	is	present	the moorhen					black property	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/337-the-park-pond-through-the-year-ducks-coots-swans-dragonflies-and-ice/e1/