Exam question 4 · Antarctica: penguins, seals and the coldest place on Earth
Ascertain the principal reason for which the blood of the Antarctic icefish is almost colourless.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, blood · What happens: ascertain, be · To what, where: principal reason
This is exam question 4 of lesson 7 «Antarctica: penguins, seals and the coldest place on Earth» 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 | 4 reason | det |
| 3 | principal | principal | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 reason | amod |
| 4 | reason | reason | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Ascertain | obj |
| 5 | for | for | ADP | _ | 6 which | case |
| 6 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 15 colourless | obl |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 blood | det |
| 8 | blood | blood | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 colourless | nsubj |
| 9 | of | of | ADP | _ | 12 icefish | case |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 icefish | det |
| 11 | Antarctic | antarctic | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 12 icefish | amod |
| 12 | icefish | icefish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 blood | nmod |
| 13 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 15 colourless | cop |
| 14 | almost | almost | ADV | _ | 15 colourless | advmod |
| 15 | colourless | colourless | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 reason | acl:relcl |
| 16 | . | . | 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 principal reason | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic | ||||
| 2 | is | present | the blood of the Antarctic icefish | for the principal reason; almost, colourless 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
The icefish possesses no blood whatsoever
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 icefish | det |
| 2 | icefish | icefish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 possesses | nsubj |
| 3 | possesses | possess | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 5 blood | det |
| 5 | blood | blood | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 possesses | obj |
| 6 | whatsoever | whatsoever | ADV | _ | 3 possesses | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | possess | present | the icefish | no blood | whatsoever property | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot blood=Theme |
Option 2
The blood of the icefish consists of seawater
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 blood | det |
| 2 | blood | blood | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 consists | nsubj |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 5 icefish | case |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 icefish | det |
| 5 | icefish | icefish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 blood | nmod |
| 6 | consists | consist | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 7 | of | of | ADP | _ | 8 seawater | case |
| 8 | seawater | seawater | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 consists | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | consist | present | the blood of the icefish | of seawater | tree rules |
Option 3
The blood of the icefish is permanently frozen
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 blood | det |
| 2 | blood | blood | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 frozen | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 5 icefish | case |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 icefish | det |
| 5 | icefish | icefish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 blood | nmod |
| 6 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 8 frozen | aux:pass |
| 7 | permanently | permanently | ADV | _ | 8 frozen | advmod |
| 8 | frozen | freeze | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | freeze | present · passive | the blood of the icefish | permanently property | vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Result |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
The icefish possesses no red blood cells, the cold water furnishing sufficient dissolved oxygen
The tree, 14 words
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 icefish | det |
| 2 | icefish | icefish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 possesses | nsubj |
| 3 | possesses | possess | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 7 cells | det |
| 5 | red | red | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 cells | amod |
| 6 | blood | blood | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 cells | compound |
| 7 | cells | cell | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 possesses | obj |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 water | punct |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 water | det |
| 10 | cold | cold | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 11 water | amod |
| 11 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 cells | nmod |
| 12 | furnishing | furnish | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 11 water | acl |
| 13 | sufficient | sufficient | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 15 oxygen | amod |
| 14 | dissolved | dissolve | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 15 oxygen | amod |
| 15 | oxygen | oxygen | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 furnishing | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | possess | present | the icefish | no red blood cells the cold water | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot cell=Theme | ||||
| 2 | furnish | gerund | the cold water not said here | sufficient dissolved oxygen | vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent oxygen=Recipient | ||||
| 3 | dissolve | participle | vn break-45.1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
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/7-antarctica/e4/