Exam question 2 · The reptile house: snakes

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the function of the forked tongue of a snake?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris, fork · To what, where: function

This is exam question 2 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	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 function	det
10	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 tongue	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 tongue	det
13	forked	fork	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 tongue	amod
14	tongue	tongue	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 function	nmod
15	of	of	ADP	_	17 snake	case
16	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 snake	det
17	snake	snake	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 tongue	nmod
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the function of the forked tongue of a snake	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	fork	participle			vn pocket-9.10 «NP V NP.theme»: 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 gathers scent and shows on which side the scent is stronger

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 gathers	nsubj
2	gathers	gather	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	scent	scent	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 gathers	obj
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 shows	cc
5	shows	show	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 gathers	conj
6	on	on	ADP	_	8 side	case
7	which	which	DET	PronType=Int	8 side	det
8	side	side	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 shows	obl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 scent	det
10	scent	scent	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 stronger	nsubj
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 stronger	cop
12	stronger	strong	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	8 side	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	gather	present	It	scent			vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent scent=Theme
2	show	present			which side		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	is	present	the scent	which side not said here		strong property	tree rules

Option 2

It serves to cool the body during the heat of the day

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 serves	nsubj
2	serves	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 cool	mark
4	cool	cool	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 serves	xcomp
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 body	det
6	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 cool	obj
7	during	during	ADP	_	9 heat	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 heat	det
9	heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 cool	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 day	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 day	det
12	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 heat	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	serve	present	It			tree rules
2	cool	to-infinitive		the body	during the heat of the day	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent body=Patient
3	heat		the day			nom heat «phenomenon intransitive»: of=agent

Option 3

It is employed to produce sound

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	3 employed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 employed	aux:pass
3	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 produce	mark
5	produce	produce	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 employed	xcomp
6	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 produce	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	employ	present · passive		It					vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP to be NP»: subject=Theme clause=Attribute
2	produce	to-infinitive		sound					vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sound=Result

Option 4

It injects venom into prey

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 injects	nsubj
2	injects	inject	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	venom	venom	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 injects	obj
4	into	into	ADP	_	5 prey	case
5	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 injects	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	inject	present	It	venom		prey			vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent venom=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.

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