Exam question 3 · The Jungle Book, The White Seal, part 20: Kotick finds a s…

Which characteristic of the Sea Cow is explained as the reason for its silence?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: characteristic · What happens: explain, silence · To what, where: characteristic

This is exam question 3 of lesson 619 «The Jungle Book, The White Seal, part 20: Kotick finds a safe island and wins a fight for the seals» of the books 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	DET	PronType=Int	2 characteristic	det
2	characteristic	characteristic	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 explained	nsubj:pass
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 Cow	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Cow	det
5	Sea	Sea	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 Cow	compound
6	Cow	cow	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 characteristic	nmod
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 explained	aux:pass
8	explained	explain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
9	as	as	ADP	_	11 reason	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 reason	det
11	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 explained	obl
12	for	for	ADP	_	14 silence	case
13	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 silence	nmod:poss
14	silence	silence	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 reason	nmod
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 explained	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	explain speech: assert	present · passive		which characteristic of the Sea Cow				as the reason for characteristic's silence	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic
2	silence		characteristic						nom silence «state transitive»: poss=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 heavy coat of blubber covering its entire body, which dampens every sound it could otherwise make in the deep water near the coast

The tree, 24 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 coat	det
2	heavy	heavy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 coat	amod
3	coat	coat	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 make	nsubj
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 blubber	case
5	blubber	blubber	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 coat	nmod
6	covering	cover	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 coat	acl
7	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 body	nmod:poss
8	entire	entire	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 body	amod
9	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 covering	obj
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 dampens	punct
11	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 dampens	nsubj
12	dampens	dampen	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 body	acl:relcl
13	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	14 sound	det
14	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 dampens	obj
15	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 dampens	obj
16	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	18 make	aux
17	otherwise	otherwise	ADV	_	18 make	advmod
18	make	make	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
19	in	in	ADP	_	22 water	case
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 water	det
21	deep	deep	ADJ	Degree=Pos	22 water	amod
22	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 make	obl
23	near	near	ADP	_	25 coast	case
24	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	25 coast	det
25	coast	coast	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 make	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	cover	gerund	the heavy coat of blubber not said here	coat's entire body			vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme body=Destination
2	dampen	present	coat's entire body	every sound			tree rules
3	make	could	the heavy coat of blubber		the deep water	near the coast; otherwise property	vn build-26.1-1 «NP.material V NP»: agent=Material

Option 2

The narrow shape of its head and jaw, which makes its mouth too small to make any sound, and its tail that never moves

The tree, 24 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 shape	det
2	narrow	narrow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 shape	amod
3	shape	shape	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 makes	nsubj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 head	case
5	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 head	nmod:poss
6	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 shape	nmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 jaw	cc
8	jaw	jaw	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 head	conj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 makes	punct
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 makes	nsubj
11	makes	make	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
12	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 mouth	nmod:poss
13	mouth	mouth	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 makes	obj
14	too	too	ADV	_	15 small	advmod
15	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 mouth	amod
16	to	to	PART	_	17 make	mark
17	make	make	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	15 small	advcl
18	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	19 sound	det
19	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 make	obj
20	,	,	PUNCT	_	23 tail	punct
21	and	and	CCONJ	_	23 tail	cc
22	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	23 tail	nmod:poss
23	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 makes	obl
24	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	26 moves	nsubj
25	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	26 moves	advmod
26	moves	move	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	23 tail	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	make	present	the narrow shape of shape's head and jaw	shape's mouth	shape's tail obl	vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset mouth=Product
2	make	to-infinitive	the narrow shape of shape's head and jaw not said here	any sound		vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset sound=Product
3	not move	present	shape's tail			vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The bony structure of its neck, which contains six bones where seven were expected

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	3 structure	det
2	bony	bony	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 structure	amod
3	structure	structure	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 contains	nsubj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 neck	case
5	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 neck	nmod:poss
6	neck	neck	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 structure	nmod
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 contains	punct
8	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 contains	nsubj
9	contains	contain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	six	six	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	11 bones	nummod
11	bones	bone	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 contains	obj
12	where	where	ADV	PronType=Rel	15 expected	advmod
13	seven	seven	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	15 expected	nsubj:pass
14	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	15 expected	aux:pass
15	expected	expect	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 bones	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	contain	present	the bony structure of structure's neck	six bones					vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot bone=Theme
2	expect	past · passive		seven					vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 4

The soft cartilage of its throat, which holds no bones at all for speech

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	3 cartilage	det
2	soft	soft	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 cartilage	amod
3	cartilage	cartilage	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 holds	nsubj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 throat	case
5	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 throat	nmod:poss
6	throat	throat	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 cartilage	nmod
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 holds	punct
8	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 holds	nsubj
9	holds	hold	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	11 bones	det
11	bones	bone	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 holds	obj
12	at	at	ADP	_	13 all	case
13	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	11 bones	nmod
14	for	for	ADP	_	15 speech	case
15	speech	speech	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 holds	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hold	present	the soft cartilage of cartilage's throat	no bones		all		for speech	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent bone=Theme at all=Location

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/books/619-pg236-part20/e3/