Exam question 1 · Reading a dog's body language

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the significance of a dog's body becoming stiff and suddenly motionless?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: significance · What happens: follow, characteris, become · To what, where: significance

This is exam question 1 of lesson 21 «Reading a dog's body language» of the everyday 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 significance	det
10	significance	significance	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	15 body	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 dog	det
13	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 body	nmod:poss
14	's	's	PART	_	13 dog	case
15	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 significance	nmod
16	becoming	become	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 significance	acl
17	stiff	stiff	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 becoming	xcomp
18	and	and	CCONJ	_	20 motionless	cc
19	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	_	20 motionless	advmod
20	motionless	motionless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 stiff	conj
21	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the significance of a dog's body	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	become	gerund	the significance of a dog's body not said here		stiff property	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient

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 signifies that the dog is about to sleep

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 signifies	nsubj
2	signifies	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 about	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 dog	det
5	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 about	nsubj
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 about	cop
7	about	about	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 signifies	advcl
8	to	to	PART	_	9 sleep	mark
9	sleep	sleep	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 about	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	signify	present	It		vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot
2	is	present	the dog	about property	tree rules
3	sleep	to-infinitive	the dog not said here		vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

It signifies an invitation to play

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 signifies	nsubj
2	signifies	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 invitation	det
4	invitation	invitation	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 signifies	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 play	mark
6	play	play	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 invitation	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signify	present	It	a invitation					vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot invitation=Theme
2	play	to-infinitive		a invitation not said here					vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

It indicates that the dog wishes to be stroked at once

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 indicates	nsubj
2	indicates	indicate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	6 wishes	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 dog	det
5	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 wishes	nsubj
6	wishes	wish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 indicates	advcl
7	to	to	PART	_	9 stroked	mark
8	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	9 stroked	aux:pass
9	stroked	stroke	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 wishes	ccomp
10	at	at	ADP	_	11 once	case
11	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	9 stroked	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	roles by
1	indicate	present	It	vn indicate-78-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Pivot
2	wish	present	the dog	vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme
3	stroke not said to happen	to-infinitive · passive		vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP»

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It constitutes a warning that a bite may follow

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 constitutes	nsubj
2	constitutes	constitute	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 warning	det
4	warning	warning	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 constitutes	obj
5	that	that	SCONJ	_	9 follow	mark
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 bite	det
7	bite	bite	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 follow	nsubj
8	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	9 follow	aux
9	follow	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 warning	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	constitute	present	It	a warning					vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme warning=Pivot
2	follow	may	a bite	a warning not said here					vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent warning=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/everyday/21-reading-a-dog/e1/