Exam question 1 · The reptile house: Komodo dragons, chameleons, tortoises a…

Identify the principal reason for which a crocodile is observed to lie with its jaws open.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, observe, lie · To what, where: principal reason, crocodile

This is exam question 1 of lesson 88 «The reptile house: Komodo dragons, chameleons, tortoises and crocodiles» 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	10 observed	obl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 crocodile	det
8	crocodile	crocodile	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 observed	nsubj:pass
9	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 observed	aux:pass
10	observed	observe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 reason	acl:relcl
11	to	to	PART	_	12 lie	mark
12	lie	lie	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 observed	xcomp
13	with	with	ADP	_	15 jaws	case
14	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	15 jaws	nmod:poss
15	jaws	jaw	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 lie	obl
16	open	open	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 jaws	amod
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	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	observe	present · passive		a crocodile	for the principal reason	tree rules
3	lie	to-infinitive			with crocodile's jaws	vn assuming_position-50 «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

It is awaiting the arrival of birds, which it seizes as 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	3 awaiting	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 awaiting	aux
3	awaiting	await	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 arrival	det
5	arrival	arrival	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 awaiting	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 birds	case
7	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 arrival	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 seizes	punct
9	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 seizes	nsubj
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 seizes	nsubj
11	seizes	seize	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 arrival	acl:relcl
12	as	as	ADP	_	13 prey	case
13	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 seizes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	await	present · progressive	It	the arrival of birds		tree rules
2	seize	present	the arrival of birds		as prey	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	arrive		birds			nom arrival «act intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

It is incapable of closing its jaws while at rest

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 incapable	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 incapable	cop
3	incapable	incapable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	of	of	SCONJ	_	5 closing	mark
5	closing	close	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 incapable	advcl
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 jaws	nmod:poss
7	jaws	jaw	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 closing	obj
8	while	while	SCONJ	_	10 rest	mark
9	at	at	ADP	_	10 rest	case
10	rest	rest	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 closing	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					incapable property	tree rules
2	close	gerund		its jaws					vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent jaw=Patient

Option 3

It is signalling to its keepers for 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	3 signalling	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 signalling	aux
3	signalling	signall	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 keepers	case
5	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 keepers	nmod:poss
6	keepers	keeper	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 signalling	obl
7	for	for	ADP	_	8 food	case
8	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 signalling	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signall	present · progressive	It					to its keepers; for food	tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Being incapable of sweating, it releases heat by this means

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 incapable	cop
2	incapable	incapable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 means	nsubj
3	of	of	SCONJ	_	4 sweating	mark
4	sweating	sweat	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 incapable	advcl
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 releases	punct
6	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 releases	nsubj
7	releases	release	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 means	csubj
8	heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 releases	obj
9	by	by	ADP	_	10 this	case
10	this	this	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	7 releases	obl
11	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	gerund			incapable property	tree rules
2	sweat	gerund				vn breathe-40.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	release	present	it	heat	by this	vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Causer heat=Source
4	mean	present	incapable			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: 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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/88-reptile-house-komodo-chameleons-tortoises-crocodiles/e1/