Exam question 2 · Spiders, scorpions and other eight-legged creatures

Identify the means by which juvenile spiders disperse through the air.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, the, juvenile spiders · What happens: identify, mean, disperse · To what, where: air · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 2 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	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	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 disperse	obl
6	juvenile	juvenile	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 spiders	compound
7	spiders	spider	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 disperse	nsubj
8	disperse	disperse	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 means	ccomp
9	through	through	ADP	_	11 air	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 air	det
11	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 disperse	obl
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	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		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	disperse	present	juvenile spiders	the air	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

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 use of rudimentary wings

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 use	det
2	use	use	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 wings	case
4	rudimentary	rudimentary	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 wings	amod
5	wings	wing	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 use	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	use			rudimentary wings					nom use «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

Attachment to the feathers of migrating birds

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Attachment	attachment	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	to	to	ADP	_	4 feathers	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 feathers	det
4	feathers	feather	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Attachment	nmod
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 birds	case
6	migrating	migrate	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 birds	amod
7	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 feathers	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	migrate	gerund							tree rules

Option 3

Leaping from great heights

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Leaping	leap	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	from	from	ADP	_	4 heights	case
3	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 heights	amod
4	heights	height	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Leaping	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	leap	gerund				great heights			vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from height=Trajectory

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The release of silk threads borne upon the breeze

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 release	det
2	release	release	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 threads	case
4	silk	silk	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 threads	compound
5	threads	thread	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 release	nmod
6	borne	bear	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 threads	acl
7	upon	upon	ADP	_	9 breeze	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 breeze	det
9	breeze	breeze	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 borne	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bear	participle		silk threads not said here				upon the breeze	vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer

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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