Exam question 1 · The capybara: the calmest animal, friend of crocodiles?

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the relationship between capybaras and caimans?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: relationship

This is exam question 1 of lesson 42 «The capybara: the calmest animal, friend of crocodiles?» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 relationship	det
10	relationship	relationship	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	between	between	ADP	_	12 capybaras	case
12	capybaras	capybara	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 relationship	nmod
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 caimans	cc
14	caimans	caiman	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 capybaras	conj
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the relationship				of the following statements; between capybaras and caimans; accurately 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 right answer

The two frequently rest in proximity, yet caimans on occasion prey upon capybaras, chiefly the young

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 two	det
2	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 rest	nsubj
3	frequently	frequently	ADV	_	4 rest	advmod
4	rest	rest	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 proximity	case
6	proximity	proximity	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 rest	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 caimans	punct
8	yet	yet	CCONJ	_	9 caimans	cc
9	caimans	caiman	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 rest	obl
10	on	on	ADP	_	12 prey	case
11	occasion	occasion	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 prey	compound
12	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 caimans	nmod
13	upon	upon	ADP	_	14 capybaras	case
14	capybaras	capybara	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 rest	obl
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 young	punct
16	chiefly	chiefly	ADV	_	18 young	advmod
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 young	det
18	young	young	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 rest	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rest	present	the two	caimans on occasion prey		proximity		upon capybaras; frequently property	vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in proximity=Location

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

Capybaras habitually prey upon the eggs and young of caimans

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Capybaras	capybara	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
2	habitually	habitually	ADV	_	3 prey	advmod
3	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Capybaras	conj
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	6 eggs	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 eggs	det
6	eggs	egg	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Capybaras	nmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 caimans	cc
8	young	young	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 caimans	amod
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 caimans	case
10	caimans	caiman	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Capybaras	conj

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 3

The two species maintain a lasting friendship of mutual defence against the jaguar and the anaconda

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 species	det
2	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	3 species	nummod
3	species	species	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 maintain	nsubj
4	maintain	maintain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 friendship	det
6	lasting	lasting	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 friendship	amod
7	friendship	friendship	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 maintain	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 defence	case
9	mutual	mutual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 defence	amod
10	defence	defence	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 friendship	nmod
11	against	against	ADP	_	13 jaguar	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 jaguar	det
13	jaguar	jaguar	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 defence	nmod
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 anaconda	cc
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 anaconda	det
16	anaconda	anaconda	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 defence	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	maintain	present	the two species	a lasting friendship of mutual defence against the jaguar and the anaconda					vn declare-29.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent friendship=Theme

Option 4

Caimans subsist principally upon capybaras and consume them daily

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Caimans	caiman	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 subsist	nsubj
2	subsist	subsist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	principally	principally	ADV	_	2 subsist	advmod
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	5 capybaras	case
5	capybaras	capybara	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 subsist	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 consume	cc
7	consume	consume	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 subsist	conj
8	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 consume	obj
9	daily	daily	ADV	_	7 consume	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	subsist	present	Caimans					upon capybaras; principally property	vn gorge-39.6 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=Agent
2	consume	infinitive	Caimans not said here	Caimans = caiman				daily property	vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Asset

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/42-the-capybara/e1/