Exam question 2 · The real animals of the Just So Stories: the whale, camel,…

Identify the principal reason why the hypothesis that the Elephant obtained its trunk through stretching by a crocodile is erroneous.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, hypothesis · What happens: identify, obtain, stretch, be · To what, where: principal reason, trunk

This is exam question 2 of lesson 404 «The real animals of the Just So Stories: the whale, camel, rhino, leopard, elephant, kangaroo, armadillo and crab» 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	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	11 obtained	advmod
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 hypothesis	det
7	hypothesis	hypothesis	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 obtained	nsubj
8	that	that	SCONJ	_	10 Elephant	mark
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 Elephant	det
10	Elephant	Elephant	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 hypothesis	appos
11	obtained	obtain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl
12	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 trunk	nmod:poss
13	trunk	trunk	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 obtained	obj
14	through	through	SCONJ	_	15 stretching	mark
15	stretching	stretch	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	20 erroneous	advcl
16	by	by	ADP	_	18 crocodile	case
17	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	18 crocodile	det
18	crocodile	crocodile	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 stretching	obl
19	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	20 erroneous	cop
20	erroneous	erroneous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 obtained	parataxis
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	obtain	past	the hypothesis	hypothesis's trunk		vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset trunk=Theme
3	stretch	gerund			by a crocodile	vn bend-45.2 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
4	is	present			erroneous property	tree rules

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 nasal tissue of elephants contains bone and cannot be stretched

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 tissue	det
2	nasal	nasal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 tissue	amod
3	tissue	tissue	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 contains	nsubj
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 elephants	case
5	elephants	elephant	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 tissue	nmod
6	contains	contain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	bone	bone	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 contains	obj
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 stretched	cc
9	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	12 stretched	aux
10	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	12 stretched	advmod
11	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	12 stretched	aux:pass
12	stretched	stretch	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 contains	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	contain	present	the nasal tissue of elephants	bone					vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot bone=Theme
2	not stretch	can · passive	the nasal tissue of elephants not said here						vn bend-45.2 «NP.patient V»

Option 2

Crocodiles are incapable of grasping the nose of any animal larger than a goat

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Crocodiles	crocodile	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 incapable	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 incapable	cop
3	incapable	incapable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	of	of	SCONJ	_	5 grasping	mark
5	grasping	grasp	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 incapable	advcl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 nose	det
7	nose	nose	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 grasping	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 animal	case
9	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	10 animal	det
10	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 nose	nmod
11	larger	large	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	10 animal	amod
12	than	than	ADP	_	14 goat	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 goat	det
14	goat	goat	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 larger	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Crocodiles					incapable property	tree rules
2	grasp	gerund	Crocodiles not said here	the nose of any animal					vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer nose=Stimulus

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Bodily changes acquired during a lifetime are not inherited by offspring

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Bodily	bodily	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 changes	amod
2	changes	change	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 inherited	nsubj:pass
3	acquired	acquire	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 changes	acl
4	during	during	ADP	_	6 lifetime	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 lifetime	det
6	lifetime	lifetime	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 acquired	obl
7	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 inherited	aux:pass
8	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	9 inherited	advmod
9	inherited	inherit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
10	by	by	ADP	_	11 offspring	case
11	offspring	offspring	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 inherited	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	acquire	participle		Bodily changes not said here			during a lifetime		vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset
2	not inherit	present · passive	offspring	Bodily changes					vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

The Elephant possessed a trunk before crocodiles came into existence

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Elephant	det
2	Elephant	Elephant	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 possessed	nsubj
3	possessed	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 trunk	det
5	trunk	trunk	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 possessed	obj
6	before	before	SCONJ	_	8 came	mark
7	crocodiles	crocodile	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 came	nsubj
8	came	come	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 possessed	advcl
9	into	into	ADP	_	10 existence	case
10	existence	existence	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 came	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	past	the Elephant	a trunk					vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot trunk=Theme
2	come	past	crocodiles			existence			vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme into existence=Initial_Location

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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