Exam question 3 · Octopuses, squid and cuttlefish

Ascertain the function of the cuttlebone within the living cuttlefish.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain · To what, where: function

This is exam question 3 of lesson 39 «Octopuses, squid and cuttlefish» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 function	det
3	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 cuttlebone	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 cuttlebone	det
6	cuttlebone	cuttlebone	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 function	nmod
7	within	within	ADP	_	10 cuttlefish	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 cuttlefish	det
9	living	living	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 cuttlefish	amod
10	cuttlefish	cuttlefish	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obl
11	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the function of the cuttlebone				within the living cuttlefish	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent function=Topic

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 digestion of shellfish

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 digestion	det
2	digestion	digestion	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 shellfish	case
4	shellfish	shellfish	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 digestion	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	digest			shellfish					nom digestion «process transitive»: of=patient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The regulation of buoyancy by gas and liquid

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 regulation	det
2	regulation	regulation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 buoyancy	case
4	buoyancy	buoyancy	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 regulation	nmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 gas	case
6	gas	gas	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 regulation	nmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 liquid	cc
8	liquid	liquid	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 gas	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	regulate		gas and liquid	buoyancy					nom regulation «communication transitive»: of=patient by=agent

Option 3

The defence against predators by stinging

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 defence	det
2	defence	defence	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	against	against	ADP	_	4 predators	case
4	predators	predator	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 defence	nmod
5	by	by	SCONJ	_	6 stinging	mark
6	stinging	sting	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 defence	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sting	gerund	the defence against predators not said here						vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

The production of ink

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 ink	case
4	ink	ink	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 production	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	produce			ink					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/39-octopuses-squid-and-cuttlefish/e3/