Exam question 1 · Farm animals by numbers: stomachs, hooves, toes, eggs and…

Identify the means by which a cow, lacking upper incisors, severs grass.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, the, cow · What happens: identify, mean, lack, sever · To what, where: upper incisors, grass

This is exam question 1 of lesson 350 «Farm animals by numbers: stomachs, hooves, toes, eggs and litres» 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 means	nsubj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Identify	ccomp
4	by	by	ADP	_	7 cow	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 cow	nsubj
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 cow	det
7	cow	cow	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 means	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 lacking	punct
9	lacking	lack	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 cow	acl
10	upper	upper	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 incisors	amod
11	incisors	incisor	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 lacking	obj
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 severs	punct
13	severs	sever	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 means	parataxis
14	grass	grass	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 severs	obj
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	mean	present	the		by a cow	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
3	lack	gerund	a cow not said here	upper incisors		tree rules
4	sever	present		grass		vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grass=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

The tongue draws the grass against a hard dental pad, whereupon it is torn

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 tongue	det
2	tongue	tongue	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 draws	nsubj
3	draws	draw	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 grass	det
5	grass	grass	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 draws	obj
6	against	against	ADP	_	10 pad	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 pad	det
8	hard	hard	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 pad	amod
9	dental	dental	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 pad	amod
10	pad	pad	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 draws	obl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 torn	punct
12	whereupon	whereupon	ADV	PronType=Int	15 torn	advmod
13	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 torn	nsubj:pass
14	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 torn	aux:pass
15	torn	tear	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 pad	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	draw	present	the tongue	the grass				against a hard dental pad	vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grass=Theme
2	tear	present · passive		tongue				whereupon property	vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 2

The grass is cut by the hooves prior to consumption

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 grass	det
2	grass	grass	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 cut	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 cut	aux:pass
4	cut	cut	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 hooves	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 hooves	det
7	hooves	hoove	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 cut	obl
8	prior	prior	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	10 consumption	case
9	to	to	ADP	_	8 prior	fixed
10	consumption	consumption	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 hooves	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cut	present · passive	the hooves prior consumption	the grass					vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset subject=Product

Option 3

The grass is swallowed whole without being severed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 grass	det
2	grass	grass	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 swallowed	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 swallowed	aux:pass
4	swallowed	swallow	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 swallowed	xcomp
6	without	without	SCONJ	_	8 severed	mark
7	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 severed	aux:pass
8	severed	sever	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 swallowed	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	swallow	present · passive		the grass				whole property	vn gobble-39.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient
2	sever	gerund · passive							vn separate-23.1 «NP V»

Option 4

The grass is severed by sharp upper fangs

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 grass	det
2	grass	grass	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 severed	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 severed	aux:pass
4	severed	sever	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	8 fangs	case
6	sharp	sharp	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 fangs	amod
7	upper	upper	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 fangs	amod
8	fangs	fang	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 severed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sever	present · passive	sharp upper fangs	the grass					vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme

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/350-farm-animals-by-numbers-stomachs-hooves-toes-eggs-and-litres/e1/