Exam question 1 · The reptile house: snakes

Identify the principal reason for which a large python may subsist for months without food.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, large python · What happens: identify, subsist · To what, where: principal reason

This is exam question 1 of lesson 87 «The reptile house: snakes» 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	Identify	identify	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 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 subsist	obl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 python	det
8	large	large	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 python	amod
9	python	python	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 subsist	nsubj
10	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	11 subsist	aux
11	subsist	subsist	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 reason	acl:relcl
12	for	for	ADP	_	13 months	case
13	months	month	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 subsist	obl
14	without	without	ADP	_	15 food	case
15	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 subsist	obl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	subsist	may	a large python				month	for the principal reason; without food	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

It derives nourishment from water alone

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 derives	nsubj
2	derives	derive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	nourishment	nourishment	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 derives	obj
4	from	from	ADP	_	5 water	case
5	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 derives	obl
6	alone	alone	ADV	_	2 derives	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	derive	present	It	nourishment		water		alone property	vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: agent=Agent nourishment=Result from water=Material

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Being cold-blooded, it does not expend food on body heat

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 blooded	cop
2	cold	cold	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 blooded	amod
3	-	-	PUNCT	_	2 cold	punct
4	blooded	blooded	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 expend	punct
6	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 expend	nsubj
7	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 expend	aux
8	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	9 expend	advmod
9	expend	expend	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 blooded	parataxis
10	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 expend	obj
11	on	on	ADP	_	13 heat	case
12	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 heat	compound
13	heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 expend	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	gerund						blooded property	tree rules
2	not expend	present · do-support	it	food		body heat			tree rules

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

It consumes small prey continuously and unobserved during the night

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 consumes	nsubj
2	consumes	consume	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 prey	amod
4	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 consumes	obj
5	continuously	continuously	ADV	_	2 consumes	advmod
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 unobserved	cc
7	unobserved	unobserv	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 consumes	conj
8	during	during	ADP	_	10 night	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 night	det
10	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 unobserved	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	consume	present	It	small prey				continuously property	vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent prey=Asset
2	unobserv	participle					night		tree rules

Option 4

It absorbs nutrients from the air through its skin

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	nutrients	nutrient	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 absorbs	obj
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 air	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 air	det
6	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 absorbs	obl
7	through	through	ADP	_	9 skin	case
8	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 skin	nmod:poss
9	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 absorbs	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	absorb	present	It	nutrients		the air		through air's skin	vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Goal nutrient=Theme from air=Source

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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