Exam question 1 · Spiders, scorpions and other eight-legged creatures

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the anatomical distinction between spiders and insects?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: anatomical distinction

This is exam question 1 of lesson 38 «Spiders, scorpions and other eight-legged creatures» 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	11 distinction	det
10	anatomical	anatomical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 distinction	amod
11	distinction	distinction	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	between	between	ADP	_	13 spiders	case
13	spiders	spider	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 distinction	nmod
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 insects	cc
15	insects	insect	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 spiders	conj
16	?	?	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 anatomical distinction				of the following statements; between spiders and insects; 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 · ← Mova's choice

Spiders possess wings but no legs

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Spiders	spider	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 possess	nsubj
2	possess	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	wings	wing	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 possess	obj
4	but	but	CCONJ	_	6 legs	cc
5	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	6 legs	det
6	legs	leg	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 wings	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	present	Spiders	wings but no legs					vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot wing=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Spiders possess eight legs and two body parts and lack antennae

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Spiders	spider	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 possess	nsubj
2	possess	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	eight	eight	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 legs	nummod
4	legs	leg	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 possess	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 parts	cc
6	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	8 parts	nummod
7	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 parts	compound
8	parts	part	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 legs	conj
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 lack	cc
10	lack	lack	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 possess	conj
11	antennae	antennae	X	Foreign=Yes	10 lack	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	present	Spiders	eight legs and two body parts					vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot leg=Theme
2	lack	present	Spiders not said here	antennae					tree rules

Option 3

There is no distinction between them of any kind, the two being one group

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	There	there	PRON	PronType=Dem	2 is	expl
2	is	be	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	4 distinction	det
4	distinction	distinction	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 is	nsubj
5	between	between	ADP	_	6 them	case
6	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 distinction	nmod
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 kind	case
8	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	9 kind	det
9	kind	kind	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 distinction	nmod
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 group	punct
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 two	det
12	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	15 group	nsubj
13	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	15 group	cop
14	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	15 group	nummod
15	group	group	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 distinction	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	does	present	no distinction between them of any kind and one group		there		vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	is a	gerund	the two	one group			tree rules
3	distinguish			any kind		between them = they	nom distinction «cognition transitive»: between=obl of=patient

Option 4

Spiders possess six legs and three body parts

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Spiders	spider	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 possess	nsubj
2	possess	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	six	six	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 legs	nummod
4	legs	leg	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 possess	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 parts	cc
6	three	three	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	8 parts	nummod
7	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 parts	compound
8	parts	part	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 legs	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	present	Spiders	six legs and three body parts					vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot leg=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.

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