Exam question 2 · Odd-looking animals: shoebills, star-nosed moles, saigas,…

Identify the principal function of the star-shaped organ upon the snout of the star-nosed mole.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, shape, nose · To what, where: principal function

This is exam question 2 of lesson 366 «Odd-looking animals: shoebills, star-nosed moles, saigas, pangolins and hagfish» 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	4 function	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 function	amod
4	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	10 organ	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 organ	det
7	star	star	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 shaped	compound
8	-	-	PUNCT	_	7 star	punct
9	shaped	shape	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 organ	amod
10	organ	organ	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 function	nmod
11	upon	upon	ADP	_	13 snout	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 snout	det
13	snout	snout	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 organ	nmod
14	of	of	ADP	_	19 mole	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 mole	det
16	star	star	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 nosed	compound
17	-	-	PUNCT	_	16 star	punct
18	nosed	nose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	19 mole	amod
19	mole	mole	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 snout	nmod
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal function of the shaped organ upon the snout of the nosed mole	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent function=Theme
2	shape	participle			vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset
3	nose	participle			vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=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

The excavation of soil in the manner of a spade

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 excavation	det
2	excavation	excavation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 soil	case
4	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 excavation	nmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 manner	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 manner	det
7	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 excavation	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 spade	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 spade	det
10	spade	spade	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 manner	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	excavate		soil			the manner of a spade			nom excavation «act intransitive»: of=agent in=place

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The detection of prey by touch in darkness

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 detection	det
2	detection	detection	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 prey	case
4	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 detection	nmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 touch	case
6	touch	touch	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 detection	nmod
7	in	in	ADP	_	8 darkness	case
8	darkness	darkness	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 detection	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	detect		touch	prey		darkness			nom detection «cognition transitive»: of=patient by=agent in=place

Option 3

The perception of colour beneath the ground

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 perception	det
2	perception	perception	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 colour	case
4	colour	colour	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 perception	nmod
5	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	7 ground	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 ground	det
7	ground	ground	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 perception	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	perceive			colour				beneath the ground	nom perception «cognition transitive»: of=patient beneath=obl

Option 4

The production of sound to repel predators

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 production	det
2	production	production	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 sound	case
4	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 production	nmod
5	to	to	PART	_	6 repel	mark
6	repel	repel	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 production	acl
7	predators	predator	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 repel	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	repel	to-infinitive		predators					vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus predator=Experiencer
2	produce			sound					nom production «act transitive»: of=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/366-odd-looking-animals-shoebills-star-nosed-moles-saigas-pangolins-and-hagfish/e2/