Exam question 4 · Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 1: How the Whale got hi…

State, in accordance with established zoology, the structure by which the largest whales filter their sustenance.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: largest whales · What happens: establish, filter · To what, where: sustenance

This is exam question 4 of lesson 74 «Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), 1: How the Whale got his Throat» 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	State	state	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 accordance	punct
3	in	in	ADP	_	4 accordance	case
4	accordance	accordance	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 State	appos
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 zoology	case
6	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 zoology	amod
7	zoology	zoology	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 accordance	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 structure	punct
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 structure	det
10	structure	structure	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 zoology	appos
11	by	by	ADP	_	12 which	case
12	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	16 filter	obl
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 whales	det
14	largest	large	ADJ	Degree=Sup	15 whales	amod
15	whales	whale	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 filter	nsubj
16	filter	filter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 structure	acl:relcl
17	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	18 sustenance	nmod:poss
18	sustenance	sustenance	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 filter	obj
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 State	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	establish	participle							vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
2	filter	present	the largest whales	whales's sustenance				by the structure	vn wipe_instr-10.4.2 «NP V NP.initial_location»: agent=Agent sustenance=Initial_Location

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

Gills lined with strong fine hairs

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Gills	gill	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
2	lined	line	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Gills	acl
3	with	with	ADP	_	6 hairs	case
4	strong	strong	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 hairs	amod
5	fine	fine	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 hairs	amod
6	hairs	hair	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 lined	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	line	participle		Gills not said here				with strong fine hairs	vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent with hair=Theme

Option 2

Plates of baleen situated within the mouth and attached to the upper jaw

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Plates	plate	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 situated	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	3 baleen	case
3	baleen	baleen	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Plates	nmod
4	situated	situate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	within	within	ADP	_	7 mouth	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 mouth	det
7	mouth	mouth	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 situated	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 attached	cc
9	attached	attach	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 situated	conj
10	to	to	ADP	_	13 jaw	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 jaw	det
12	upper	upper	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 jaw	amod
13	jaw	jaw	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 attached	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	situate	participle	Plates of baleen					within the mouth	vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent
2	attach	participle	Plates of baleen not said here					to the upper jaw	vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent to jaw=Co-Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Plates of baleen situated within the mouth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Plates	plate	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 situated	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	3 baleen	case
3	baleen	baleen	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Plates	nmod
4	situated	situate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	within	within	ADP	_	7 mouth	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 mouth	det
7	mouth	mouth	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 situated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	situate	participle	Plates of baleen					within the mouth	vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent

Option 4

Enormous stomachs and a muscular gullet capable of holding a whole raft

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Enormous	enormous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 stomachs	amod
2	stomachs	stomach	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 capable	nsubj
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 gullet	cc
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 gullet	det
5	muscular	muscular	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 gullet	amod
6	gullet	gullet	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 stomachs	conj
7	capable	capable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
8	of	of	SCONJ	_	9 holding	mark
9	holding	hold	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	7 capable	advcl
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 raft	det
11	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 raft	amod
12	raft	raft	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 holding	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hold	gerund		a whole raft					vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent raft=Theme

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/74-justso-whale-throat/e4/