Exam question 1 · The penguin pool

Identify the principal reason for which penguins inhabiting temperate coasts are able to subsist there.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, penguins · What happens: identify, inhabit, be, subsist · To what, where: principal reason, temperate coasts

This is exam question 1 of lesson 99 «The penguin pool» 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	12 able	obl
7	penguins	penguin	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 able	nsubj
8	inhabiting	inhabit	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 penguins	acl
9	temperate	temperate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 coasts	amod
10	coasts	coast	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 inhabiting	obj
11	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 able	cop
12	able	able	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	acl
13	to	to	PART	_	14 subsist	mark
14	subsist	subsist	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 able	xcomp
15	there	there	ADV	PronType=Dem	14 subsist	advmod
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	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	inhabit	gerund	penguins not said here	temperate coasts			tree rules
3	is	present	penguins			for the principal reason; able property	tree rules
4	subsist	to-infinitive	penguins not said here		there		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 · ✓ the right answer

Cold ocean currents supply abundant fish to those coasts

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Cold	cold	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 currents	amod
2	ocean	ocean	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 currents	compound
3	currents	current	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 supply	nsubj
4	supply	supply	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	abundant	abundant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 fish	amod
6	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 supply	obj
7	to	to	ADP	_	9 coasts	case
8	those	that	DET	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	9 coasts	det
9	coasts	coast	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 supply	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	supply	present	Cold ocean currents	abundant fish	that coasts				vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent fish=Theme to coast=Recipient

Option 2

The coasts are covered throughout the year by permanent ice

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 coasts	det
2	coasts	coast	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 covered	nsubj:pass
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 covered	aux:pass
4	covered	cover	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	throughout	throughout	ADP	_	7 year	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 year	det
7	year	year	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 covered	obl
8	by	by	ADP	_	10 ice	case
9	permanent	permanent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 ice	amod
10	ice	ice	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 covered	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cover	present · passive	permanent ice	the coasts			year		vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme subject=Destination

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Such penguins require no nourishment

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 penguins	amod
2	penguins	penguin	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 require	nsubj
3	require	require	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	5 nourishment	det
5	nourishment	nourishment	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 require	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	require	present	Such penguins	no nourishment					vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme nourishment=Precondition

Option 4

Polar bears are absent from those regions

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Polar	polar	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 bears	amod
2	bears	bear	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 absent	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 absent	cop
4	absent	absent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 regions	case
6	those	that	DET	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	7 regions	det
7	regions	region	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 absent	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Polar bears			that regions		absent property	tree rules

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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