Exam question 4 · Mushrooms and creatures to avoid in the woods: death caps,…

Ascertain the circumstances in which the adder is ordinarily disposed to bite a human being.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, dispose, bite · To what, where: circumstances, adder, human

This is exam question 4 of lesson 393 «Mushrooms and creatures to avoid in the woods: death caps, adders, ticks and hornets» 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 circumstances	det
3	circumstances	circumstance	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Ascertain	obj
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 disposed	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 adder	det
7	adder	adder	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 disposed	nsubj:pass
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 disposed	aux:pass
9	ordinarily	ordinarily	ADV	_	10 disposed	advmod
10	disposed	dispose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 circumstances	acl:relcl
11	to	to	PART	_	12 bite	mark
12	bite	bite	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 disposed	xcomp
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 human	det
14	human	human	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 bite	obj
15	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	12 bite	advcl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the circumstances			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent circumstance=Topic
2	dispose	present · passive		the adder	the circumstances	ordinarily property	tree rules
3	bite	to-infinitive		a human			vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent human=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

Whenever a human being is observed at a distance

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Whenever	whenever	ADV	PronType=Rel	6 observed	advmod
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 human	det
3	human	human	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 observed	nsubj:pass
4	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 observed	aux:pass
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 observed	aux:pass
6	observed	observe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	at	at	ADP	_	9 distance	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 distance	det
9	distance	distance	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 observed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	observe	gerund · passive		a human				at a distance; whenever property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic

Option 2

When a human being speaks in its vicinity

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	When	when	ADV	PronType=Int	5 speaks	advmod
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 human	det
3	human	human	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 speaks	nsubj
4	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 speaks	nsubj
5	speaks	speak	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 vicinity	case
7	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 vicinity	nmod:poss
8	vicinity	vicinity	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 speaks	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	speak speech: other	present	a human			its vicinity			vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

When it is trodden upon or seized

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	When	when	SCONJ	_	4 trodden	mark
2	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 trodden	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 trodden	aux:pass
4	trodden	tread	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	4 trodden	obl
6	or	or	CCONJ	_	7 seized	cc
7	seized	seize	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 trodden	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tread	present · passive		it					vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme
2	seize	participle							vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 4

Exclusively at night, in pursuit of human beings

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	3 night	advmod
2	at	at	ADP	_	3 night	case
3	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 pursuit	punct
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 pursuit	case
6	pursuit	pursuit	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 night	conj
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 beings	case
8	human	human	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 beings	amod
9	beings	being	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 pursuit	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pursue			human beings					nom pursuit «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.

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