Exam question 2 · Weeds and wildflowers: dandelions, nettles, daisies, clove…

Identify the mechanism by which the common nettle inflicts its sting.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, common nettle, nettle · What happens: identify, inflict, sting · To what, where: mechanism, sting

This is exam question 2 of lesson 340 «Weeds and wildflowers: dandelions, nettles, daisies, clover and plantain» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 mechanism	det
3	mechanism	mechanism	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 inflicts	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 nettle	det
7	common	common	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 nettle	amod
8	nettle	nettle	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 inflicts	nsubj
9	inflicts	inflict	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 mechanism	acl:relcl
10	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 sting	nmod:poss
11	sting	sting	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 inflicts	obj
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the mechanism		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent mechanism=Theme
2	inflict	present	the common nettle	nettle's sting	by the mechanism	tree rules
3	sting		nettle			nom sting «state transitive»: poss=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

Small teeth upon the stem lacerate the skin

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 teeth	amod
2	teeth	tooth	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 lacerate	nsubj
3	upon	upon	ADP	_	5 stem	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 stem	det
5	stem	stem	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 teeth	nmod
6	lacerate	lacerate	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 skin	det
8	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 lacerate	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lacerate	infinitive	Small teeth upon the stem	the skin					tree rules

Option 2

The leaves emit a heated vapour upon contact

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 leaves	det
2	leaves	leaf	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 emit	nsubj
3	emit	emit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 vapour	det
5	heated	heat	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 vapour	amod
6	vapour	vapour	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 emit	obj
7	upon	upon	ADP	_	8 contact	case
8	contact	contact	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 vapour	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	emit	present	the leaves	a heated vapour				upon contact	vn substance_emission-43.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Source vapour=Theme
2	heat	participle							vn cooking-45.3 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 3

The roots discharge a venom into the surrounding soil

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 roots	det
2	roots	root	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 discharge	nsubj
3	discharge	discharge	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 venom	det
5	venom	venom	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 discharge	obj
6	into	into	ADP	_	9 soil	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 soil	det
8	surrounding	surrounding	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 soil	compound
9	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 discharge	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	discharge	present	the roots	a venom		the surrounding soil			vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent venom=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Brittle hairs fracture upon contact and introduce irritant chemicals into the skin

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Brittle	brittle	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 hairs	amod
2	hairs	hair	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 fracture	nsubj
3	fracture	fracture	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	5 contact	case
5	contact	contact	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 fracture	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 introduce	cc
7	introduce	introduce	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 fracture	conj
8	irritant	irritant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 chemicals	amod
9	chemicals	chemical	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 introduce	obj
10	into	into	ADP	_	12 skin	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 skin	det
12	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 introduce	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fracture	present	Brittle hairs					upon contact	vn break-45.1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
2	introduce	infinitive	Brittle hairs not said here	irritant chemicals		the skin			vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chemical=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/340-weeds-and-wildflowers-dandelions-nettles-daisies-clover-and-plantain/e2/