Exam question 4 · Digestion: the journey of a sandwich

Ascertain the function of the epiglottis during the act of swallowing.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, act · What happens: ascertain, swallow · To what, where: function

This is exam question 4 of lesson 67 «Digestion: the journey of a sandwich» 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 function	det
3	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 epiglottis	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 epiglottis	det
6	epiglottis	epiglottis	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 function	nmod
7	during	during	ADP	_	9 act	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 act	det
9	act	act	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obl
10	of	of	SCONJ	_	11 swallowing	mark
11	swallowing	swallow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	9 act	acl
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the function of the epiglottis			during the act		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent function=Topic
2	swallow	gerund	the act not said here						vn hiccup-40.1.1 «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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

It covers the windpipe, preventing the entry of food

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 covers	nsubj
2	covers	cover	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 windpipe	det
4	windpipe	windpipe	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 covers	obj
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 preventing	punct
6	preventing	prevent	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 covers	advcl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 entry	det
8	entry	entry	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 preventing	obj
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 food	case
10	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 entry	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	cover	present	It	the windpipe	vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme windpipe=Destination
2	prevent	gerund		the entry of food	vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer entry=Theme
3	enter			food	nom entry «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

It grinds food prior to swallowing

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 grinds	nsubj
2	grinds	grind	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 grinds	obj
4	prior	prior	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=SCONJ	6 swallowing	mark
5	to	to	ADP	_	4 prior	fixed
6	swallowing	swallow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 grinds	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	grind	present	It	food					vn carve-21.2-1 «NP.instrument V NP»: agent=Instrument food=Patient
2	swallow	gerund							vn hiccup-40.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

It secretes acid into the stomach during swallowing

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 secretes	nsubj
2	secretes	secrete	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	acid	acid	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 secretes	obj
4	into	into	ADP	_	6 stomach	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 stomach	det
6	stomach	stomach	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 secretes	obl
7	during	during	ADP	_	8 swallowing	mark
8	swallowing	swallow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 secretes	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	secrete	present	It	acid		the stomach			tree rules
2	swallow	gerund							vn hiccup-40.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4

It absorbs water from the food as it passes downward

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 absorbs	nsubj
2	absorbs	absorb	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 absorbs	obj
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 food	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 food	det
6	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 absorbs	obl
7	as	as	SCONJ	_	9 passes	mark
8	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 passes	nsubj
9	passes	pass	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 absorbs	advcl
10	downward	downward	ADV	_	9 passes	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	absorb	present	It	water		the food			vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Goal water=Theme from food=Source
2	pass	present	water					downward property	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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/67-digestion-the-journey-of-a-sandwich/e4/