Exam question 4 · Growing, skin, hair and food

Ascertain which of the following claims concerning the human body is, notwithstanding its improbable appearance, correct.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, concerning · What happens: ascertain, follow, concern, notwithstand · To what, where: human body, improbable appearance

This is exam question 4 of lesson 6 «Growing, skin, hair and food» of the myths 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 claims	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 claims	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 claims	det
5	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 claims	amod
6	claims	claim	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Ascertain	parataxis
7	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	13 notwithstanding	csubj
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 body	det
9	human	human	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 body	amod
10	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 concerning	obj
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 notwithstanding	aux
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 notwithstanding	punct
13	notwithstanding	notwithstand	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 claims	acl
14	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	16 appearance	nmod:poss
15	improbable	improbable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 appearance	amod
16	appearance	appearance	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 notwithstanding	obj
17	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 correct	punct
18	correct	correct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 claims	conj
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here		vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
2	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	concern	gerund		the human body	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus body=Experiencer
4	notwithstand	present · progressive	concerning	body's improbable appearance	tree rules

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

Blood is blue until exposed to air

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Blood	blood	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 blue	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 blue	cop
3	blue	blue	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	until	until	SCONJ	_	5 exposed	mark
5	exposed	expose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 blue	advcl
6	to	to	ADP	_	7 air	case
7	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 exposed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Blood					blue property	tree rules
2	expose	participle	Blood not said here		air				vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to air=Recipient

Option 2

Hair and nails continue to grow after death

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Hair	hair	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 continue	nsubj
2	and	and	CCONJ	_	3 nails	cc
3	nails	nail	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Hair	conj
4	continue	continue	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 grow	mark
6	grow	grow	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 continue	xcomp
7	after	after	ADP	_	8 death	case
8	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 grow	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	continue	present	Hair and nails						vn continue-55.3 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
2	grow	to-infinitive	Hair and nails not said here				after death		vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Excessive consumption of carrots may tint the skin orange

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Excessive	excessive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 consumption	amod
2	consumption	consumption	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 tint	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 carrots	case
4	carrots	carrot	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 consumption	nmod
5	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 tint	aux
6	tint	tint	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 orange	det
8	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 orange	compound
9	orange	orange	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 tint	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tint	may	Excessive consumption of carrots	the skin orange					vn coloring-24 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent orange=Patient
2	consume			carrots					nom consumption «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

Removal of one grey hair occasions the growth of two in its place

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Removal	removal	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 occasions	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 hair	case
3	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	5 hair	nummod
4	grey	grey	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 hair	amod
5	hair	hair	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Removal	nmod
6	occasions	occasion	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 growth	det
8	growth	growth	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 occasions	obj
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 two	case
10	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	8 growth	nmod
11	in	in	ADP	_	13 place	case
12	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 place	nmod:poss
13	place	place	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 occasions	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	occasion	present	Removal of one grey hair	the growth of two		Removal's place			tree rules
2	remove			one grey hair					nom removal «act transitive»: of=patient

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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