Test 5 · The platypus and the echidna: mammals that lay eggs

«a duck bill + beaver tail?? that thing's fake mate» Why should a scientist be careful before deciding?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: duck bill · What happens: be, decide

This is test 5 of lesson 43 «The platypus and the echidna: mammals that lay eggs» of the biology course of Mova's primary school. 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	«	«	PUNCT	_	20 careful	punct
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 bill	det
3	duck	duck	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 bill	compound
4	bill	bill	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 careful	nsubj
5	+	+	SYM	_	7 tail	cc
6	beaver	beaver	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 tail	compound
7	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 bill	conj
8	??	??	PUNCT	_	13 mate	punct
9	that	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	10 thing	det
10	thing	thing	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 mate	nmod:poss
11	's	's	PART	_	10 thing	case
12	fake	fake	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 mate	amod
13	mate	mate	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 bill	appos
14	»	»	PUNCT	_	13 mate	punct
15	Why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	4 bill	advmod
16	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	20 careful	aux
17	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	18 scientist	det
18	scientist	scientist	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 careful	nsubj
19	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	20 careful	cop
20	careful	careful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
21	before	before	SCONJ	_	22 deciding	mark
22	deciding	decide	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	20 careful	advcl
23	?	?	PUNCT	_	20 careful	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	should	a duck bill + beaver tail					careful property	tree rules
2	decide	gerund	a duck bill + beaver tail not said here						vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: 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

Animals with bills are always birds

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 birds	nsubj
2	with	with	ADP	_	3 bills	case
3	bills	bill	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Animals	nmod
4	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 birds	cop
5	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	6 birds	advmod
6	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	Animals with bills	birds				always property	tree rules

Option 2

Scientists never doubt anything

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Scientists	scientist	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 doubt	nsubj
2	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	3 doubt	advmod
3	doubt	doubt	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	anything	anything	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	3 doubt	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not doubt	present	Scientists	anything					vn judgment-33.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Theme

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Anything that looks that strange is always fake, so throw it straight out

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Anything	anything	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	8 fake	nsubj
2	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	3 looks	nsubj
3	looks	look	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Anything	acl:relcl
4	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	5 strange	nsubj
5	strange	strange	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 looks	xcomp
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 fake	cop
7	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	8 fake	advmod
8	fake	fake	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 throw	punct
10	so	so	ADV	_	11 throw	advmod
11	throw	throw	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 fake	conj
12	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 throw	obj
13	straight	straight	ADV	_	14 out	advmod
14	out	out	ADV	_	11 throw	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	look	present			strange property	vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus
2	is	present	Anything		always, fake property	tree rules
3	throw	infinitive	Anything not said here	it	out property	vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Strange things can be real, so check the evidence before deciding

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Strange	strange	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 things	amod
2	things	thing	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 real	nsubj
3	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 real	aux
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 real	cop
5	real	real	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 check	punct
7	so	so	ADV	_	8 check	advmod
8	check	check	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 real	conj
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 evidence	det
10	evidence	evidence	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 check	obj
11	before	before	SCONJ	_	12 deciding	mark
12	deciding	decide	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 check	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	can	Strange things		real property	tree rules
2	check	infinitive	Strange things not said here	the evidence		vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent evidence=Theme
3	decide	gerund	Strange things not said here			vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: 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.

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