Exam question 4 · Poo, wee and smells: rabbits that eat their droppings, dun…
It is given that a healthy rabbit produces several hundred hard droppings daily. Ascertain the purpose served by its soft droppings.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: healthy rabbit, you · What happens: give, produce, ascertain, serve · To what, where: It, several hundred hard droppings, purpose
This is exam question 4 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
Sentence 1: It is given that a healthy rabbit produces several hundred hard droppings daily.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 given | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 given | aux:pass |
| 3 | given | give | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 8 produces | mark |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 rabbit | det |
| 6 | healthy | healthy | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 rabbit | amod |
| 7 | rabbit | rabbit | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 produces | nsubj |
| 8 | produces | produce | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 given | advcl |
| 9 | several | several | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 12 droppings | amod |
| 10 | hundred | hundred | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 12 droppings | nummod |
| 11 | hard | hard | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 12 droppings | amod |
| 12 | droppings | dropping | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 produces | obj |
| 13 | daily | daily | ADV | _ | 8 produces | advmod |
| 14 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 given | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | give | present · passive | It | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | |||||
| 2 | produce | present | a healthy rabbit | several hundred hard droppings | daily property | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dropping=Result |
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.
Sentence 2: Ascertain the purpose served by its soft droppings.
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 purpose | det |
| 3 | purpose | purpose | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Ascertain | obj |
| 4 | served | serve | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 purpose | acl |
| 5 | by | by | ADP | _ | 8 droppings | case |
| 6 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 8 droppings | nmod:poss |
| 7 | soft | soft | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 droppings | amod |
| 8 | droppings | dropping | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 served | obl |
| 9 | . | . | 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 purpose | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent purpose=Topic | ||||
| 2 | serve | participle | the purpose not said here | by purpose's soft droppings | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
They are fed to the young exclusively
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 fed | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 fed | aux:pass |
| 3 | fed | feed | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | to | to | ADP | _ | 6 young | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 young | det |
| 6 | young | young | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 fed | obl |
| 7 | exclusively | exclusively | ADV | _ | 3 fed | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | feed | present · passive | They | the young | exclusively property | vn feeding-39.7 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Theme to young=Recipient |
Option 2 · ✓ the right answer
They are consumed in order to extract further nourishment from the food
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 consumed | nsubj |
| 2 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 consumed | aux:pass |
| 3 | consumed | consume | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | in | in | ADP | _ | 5 order | case |
| 5 | order | order | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 consumed | obl |
| 6 | to | to | PART | _ | 7 extract | mark |
| 7 | extract | extract | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 consumed | advcl |
| 8 | further | further | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 nourishment | amod |
| 9 | nourishment | nourishment | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 extract | obj |
| 10 | from | from | ADP | _ | 12 food | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 food | det |
| 12 | food | food | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 extract | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | consume | present · passive | They | order | vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: subject=Asset | ||||
| 2 | extract | to-infinitive | further nourishment | the food | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent nourishment=Theme from food=Initial_Location |
Option 3
They are discarded as being of no use
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 discarded | nsubj |
| 2 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 discarded | aux:pass |
| 3 | discarded | discard | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | as | as | ADP | _ | 8 use | case |
| 5 | being | be | AUX | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 8 use | cop |
| 6 | of | of | ADP | _ | 8 use | case |
| 7 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 8 use | det |
| 8 | use | use | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 discarded | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | discard | present · passive | They | vn throw-17.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | |||||
| 2 | is | gerund | as no use | tree rules |
Option 4
They are employed to mark the boundaries of territory
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 employed | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 employed | aux:pass |
| 3 | employed | employ | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | to | to | PART | _ | 5 mark | mark |
| 5 | mark | mark | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 employed | xcomp |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 boundaries | det |
| 7 | boundaries | boundary | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 mark | obj |
| 8 | of | of | ADP | _ | 9 territory | case |
| 9 | territory | territory | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 boundaries | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | employ | present · passive | They | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP to be NP»: subject=Theme clause=Attribute | |||||
| 2 | mark | to-infinitive | the boundaries of territory | vn image_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent boundary=Destination |
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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