Exam question 4 · The capybara: the calmest animal, friend of crocodiles?

Ascertain the reason for which an adult caiman may abstain from feeding for many days.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, adult caiman · What happens: ascertain, abstain, feed · To what, where: reason

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 abstain	obl
6	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 caiman	det
7	adult	adult	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 caiman	amod
8	caiman	caiman	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 abstain	nsubj
9	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	10 abstain	aux
10	abstain	abstain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 reason	acl:relcl
11	from	from	SCONJ	_	12 feeding	mark
12	feeding	feed	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	10 abstain	advcl
13	for	for	ADP	_	15 days	case
14	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 days	amod
15	days	day	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 feeding	obl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	abstain	may	a adult caiman			for the reason	vn refrain-69 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	feed	gerund	a adult caiman not said here		day		vn gorge-39.6 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=Agent

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 · ✓ the right answer

Being a reptile, it does not expend food in maintaining its body heat

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 reptile	cop
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 reptile	det
3	reptile	reptile	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 expend	advcl
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 reptile	punct
5	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 expend	nsubj
6	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 expend	aux
7	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	8 expend	advmod
8	expend	expend	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
9	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 expend	obj
10	in	in	SCONJ	_	11 maintaining	mark
11	maintaining	maintain	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 expend	advcl
12	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 heat	nmod:poss
13	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 heat	compound
14	heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 maintaining	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	is a	gerund	reptile not said here	a reptile	tree rules
2	not expend	present · do-support	reptile	food	tree rules
3	maintain	gerund	reptile not said here	reptile's body heat	vn declare-29.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent heat=Theme
4	heat		reptile		nom heat «phenomenon intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 2

It is incapable of digesting any food larger than a snail

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 incapable	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 incapable	cop
3	incapable	incapable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	of	of	SCONJ	_	5 digesting	mark
5	digesting	digest	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 incapable	advcl
6	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	7 food	det
7	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 digesting	obj
8	larger	large	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	5 digesting	xcomp
9	than	than	ADP	_	11 snail	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 snail	det
11	snail	snail	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 larger	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					incapable property	tree rules
2	digest	gerund		any food				large property	tree rules

Option 3

It obtains all its nourishment from the water it swallows

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	2 obtains	nsubj
2	obtains	obtain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	5 nourishment	det:predet
4	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 nourishment	nmod:poss
5	nourishment	nourishment	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 obtains	obj
6	from	from	ADP	_	8 water	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 water	det
8	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 obtains	obl
9	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 swallows	nsubj
10	swallows	swallow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 water	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	obtain	present	It	its nourishment		the water			vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent nourishment=Theme from water=Source
2	swallow	present	nourishment	the water not said here					vn gobble-39.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Patient

Option 4

It sustains itself by consuming grass in the manner of the capybara upon the bank

The tree, 15 words

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	2 sustains	nsubj
2	sustains	sustain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	itself	itself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	2 sustains	obj
4	by	by	SCONJ	_	5 consuming	mark
5	consuming	consume	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 sustains	advcl
6	grass	grass	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 consuming	obj
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 manner	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 manner	det
9	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 consuming	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 capybara	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 capybara	det
12	capybara	capybara	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 manner	nmod
13	upon	upon	ADP	_	15 bank	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 bank	det
15	bank	bank	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 capybara	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sustain	present	It	itself = it					vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent itself=Theme
2	consume	gerund		grass		the manner of the capybara upon the bank			vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grass=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.

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