Exam question 1 · The platypus and the echidna: mammals that lay eggs

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the monotremes?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: monotremes

This is exam question 1 of lesson 43 «The platypus and the echidna: mammals that lay eggs» 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 monotremes	det
10	monotremes	monotreme	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obj
11	?	?	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 monotremes				of the following statements; 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 · ← Mova's choice

They are mammals which give birth to young of exceptional size and strength

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 mammals	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 mammals	cop
3	mammals	mammal	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 give	nsubj
5	give	give	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 mammals	acl:relcl
6	birth	birth	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 give	obj
7	to	to	ADP	_	8 young	case
8	young	young	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 give	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 size	case
10	exceptional	exceptional	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 size	amod
11	size	size	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 young	nmod
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 strength	cc
13	strength	strength	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 size	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	They	mammals					tree rules
2	give	present	mammals	birth	young of exceptional size and strength				vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent birth=Theme to young=Recipient

Option 2

They are reptiles which have acquired fur and the capacity to produce milk

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 reptiles	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 reptiles	cop
3	reptiles	reptile	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 acquired	nsubj:pass
5	have	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 acquired	aux
6	acquired	acquire	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 reptiles	acl:relcl
7	fur	fur	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 acquired	obj
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 capacity	cc
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 capacity	det
10	capacity	capacity	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 reptiles	conj
11	to	to	PART	_	12 produce	mark
12	produce	produce	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 capacity	acl
13	milk	milk	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 produce	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	is a	present	They	reptiles and the capacity	tree rules
2	acquire	present · perfect · passive		reptiles and the capacity	tree rules
3	produce	to-infinitive	They not said here	milk	vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent milk=Result

Option 3

They are birds which have lost the capacity for flight

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 birds	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 birds	cop
3	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 lost	nsubj:pass
5	have	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 lost	aux
6	lost	lose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 birds	acl:relcl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 capacity	det
8	capacity	capacity	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 lost	obj
9	for	for	ADP	_	10 flight	case
10	flight	flight	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 lost	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	They	birds					tree rules
2	lose	present · perfect · passive		birds				for flight	tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

They are mammals bearing fur and nourishing their young with milk, yet laying eggs

The tree, 14 words

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 mammals	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 mammals	cop
3	mammals	mammal	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	bearing	bear	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 mammals	acl
5	fur	fur	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 bearing	obj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 nourishing	cc
7	nourishing	nourish	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 bearing	conj
8	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 young	nmod:poss
9	young	young	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 nourishing	obj
10	with	with	ADP	_	11 milk	case
11	milk	milk	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 nourishing	obl
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 eggs	punct
13	yet	yet	CCONJ	_	15 eggs	cc
14	laying	lay	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	15 eggs	amod
15	eggs	egg	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 mammals	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is a	present	They	mammals yet laying eggs		tree rules
2	bear	gerund	mammals yet laying eggs not said here	fur		vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fur=Patient
3	nourish	gerund	mammals yet laying eggs not said here	mammals's young	with milk	vn subjugate-42.3 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent young=Patient with milk=Instrument
4	lay	gerund				vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

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/43-platypus-and-echidna/e1/