Exam question 3 · Poo, wee and smells: rabbits that eat their droppings, dun…

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the phenomenon known as the whale pump.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern, know · To what, where: response, phenomenon

This is exam question 3 of lesson 398 «Poo, wee and smells: rabbits that eat their droppings, dung beetles and the smelliest animals» 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 phenomenon	det
11	phenomenon	phenomenon	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	known	know	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 phenomenon	acl
13	as	as	ADP	_	16 pump	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 pump	det
15	whale	whale	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 pump	compound
16	pump	pump	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 known	obl
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the phenomenon		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus phenomenon=Experiencer
4	know	participle		the phenomenon not said here	as the whale pump	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer as pump=Attribute

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

Whales pump water out of vessels at sea

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Whales	whale	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 pump	nsubj
2	pump	pump	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 pump	obj
4	out	out	ADP	_	6 vessels	case
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 vessels	case
6	vessels	vessel	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 pump	obl
7	at	at	ADP	_	8 sea	case
8	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 pump	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pump	present	Whales	water		vessels		at sea	vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination-Conative»: agent=Agent water=Theme at sea=Destination

Option 2

Whales consume the minute plants upon which krill depend

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Whales	whale	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 consume	nsubj
2	consume	consume	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 plants	det
4	minute	minute	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 plants	compound
5	plants	plant	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 depend	nsubj
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	8 krill	case
7	which	which	DET	PronType=Int	8 krill	det
8	krill	krill	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 plants	nmod
9	depend	depend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 consume	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	consume	present	Whales						vn consume-66 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Goal
2	depend	present	the minute plants upon which krill						vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S_ING»: agent=Agent

Option 3

Whales expel water through their blowholes in order to irrigate the ocean and to cool its surface waters

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Whales	whale	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 expel	nsubj
2	expel	expel	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 expel	obj
4	through	through	ADP	_	6 blowholes	case
5	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 blowholes	nmod:poss
6	blowholes	blowhole	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 expel	obl
7	in	in	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	10 irrigate	mark
8	order	order	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 in	fixed
9	to	to	PART	_	10 irrigate	mark
10	irrigate	irrigate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 expel	advcl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 ocean	det
12	ocean	ocean	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 irrigate	obj
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 cool	cc
14	to	to	PART	_	15 cool	mark
15	cool	cool	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 irrigate	conj
16	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	18 waters	nmod:poss
17	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 waters	compound
18	waters	water	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 cool	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	expel	present	Whales	water	Whales's blowholes	vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Theme
2	irrigate	to-infinitive	Whales not said here	the ocean		tree rules
3	cool	to-infinitive	Whales not said here	ocean's surface waters		vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent water=Patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Whales feed at depth and defecate near the surface, supplying nutrients to minute marine plants

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Whales	whale	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 feed	nsubj
2	feed	feed	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	at	at	ADP	_	4 depth	case
4	depth	depth	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 feed	obl
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 defecate	cc
6	defecate	defecate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 feed	conj
7	near	near	ADP	_	9 surface	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 surface	det
9	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 defecate	obl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 supplying	punct
11	supplying	supply	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 feed	advcl
12	nutrients	nutrient	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 supplying	obj
13	to	to	PART	_	14 minute	mark
14	minute	minute	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 supplying	advcl
15	marine	marine	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 plants	compound
16	plants	plant	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 minute	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	feed	present	Whales		depth	vn gorge-39.6 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=Agent
2	defecate	present	Whales not said here		the surface	vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	supply	gerund	Whales not said here	nutrients		vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nutrient=Recipient

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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