Exam question 4 · Guinea pigs, hamsters and fish

Select the response that is consistent with established guidance concerning the holding of a hamster.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, response, established guidance · What happens: select, be, establish, concern, hold · To what, where: response, hamster

This is exam question 4 of lesson 63 «Guinea pigs, hamsters and fish» 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 consistent	nsubj
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 consistent	cop
6	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 response	acl:relcl
7	with	with	ADP	_	9 guidance	case
8	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 guidance	amod
9	guidance	guidance	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 consistent	obl
10	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	9 guidance	acl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 hamster	det
12	holding	hold	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	15 hamster	nsubj
13	of	of	ADP	_	15 hamster	case
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 hamster	det
15	hamster	hamster	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 concerning	obj
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response		vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	is	present	the response		with established guidance; consistent property	tree rules
3	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
4	concern	gerund	established guidance not said here	the hamster		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus hamster=Experiencer
5	hold	gerund				vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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

By its tail while standing

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	3 tail	case
2	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 tail	nmod:poss
3	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	while	while	SCONJ	_	5 standing	mark
5	standing	stand	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 tail	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	stand	gerund	its tail not said here						vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

In one hand above a table

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	In	in	ADP	_	3 hand	case
2	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	3 hand	nummod
3	hand	hand	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	above	above	ADP	_	6 table	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 table	det
6	table	table	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 hand	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

In two cupped hands whilst seated close to the floor

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	In	in	ADP	_	4 hands	case
2	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 hands	nummod
3	cupped	cup	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 hands	amod
4	hands	hand	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
5	whilst	whilst	SCONJ	_	6 seated	mark
6	seated	seat	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 hands	acl
7	close	close	ADV	Degree=Pos	6 seated	advmod
8	to	to	ADP	_	10 floor	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 floor	det
10	floor	floor	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 close	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cup	participle							vn pocket-9.10 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent
2	seat	participle		two cupped hands not said here				close property	vn fit-54.3 «NP.location V NP»: agent=Location

Option 4

By the scruff while walking

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	3 scruff	case
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 scruff	det
3	scruff	scruff	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	while	while	SCONJ	_	5 walking	mark
5	walking	walk	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 scruff	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	walk	gerund	the scruff not said here						vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=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/63-guinea-pigs-hamsters-and-fish/e4/