---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — Myths and cartoons put right: Tom and… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the memory of the goldfish? Exam question 3 of lesson 191 «Myths and cartoons put right: Tom and Jerry, elephants and mice, ostriches and more» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of t
---

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# Exam question 3 · Myths and cartoons put right: Tom and Jerry, elephants and…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the memory of the goldfish?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** follow, characteris · **To what, where:** memory

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This is exam question 3 of lesson 191 «Myths and cartoons put right: Tom and Jerry, elephants and mice, ostriches and more» of the biology 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/191-myths-and-cartoons-put-right/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:191-myths-and-cartoons-put-right:e3:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the memory of the goldfish?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	memory	memory	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	goldfish	goldfish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | the memory of the goldfish |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
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 {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is incapable of retaining any information beyond three seconds

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:191-myths-and-cartoons-put-right:e3:o1:1
# text = It is incapable of retaining any information beyond three seconds
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	incapable	incapable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	retaining	retain	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
6	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	7	det	_	_
7	information	information	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	beyond	beyond	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	seconds	second	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  |  | incapable *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **retain** | gerund |  | any information |  |  | second |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It retains information exclusively concerning colour

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:191-myths-and-cartoons-put-right:e3:o2:1
# text = It retains information exclusively concerning colour
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	retains	retain	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	information	information	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	concerning	concerning	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	appos	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **retain** | present | It | information |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It retains information only in darkness

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:191-myths-and-cartoons-put-right:e3:o3:1
# text = It retains information only in darkness
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	retains	retain	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	information	information	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	darkness	darkness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **retain** | present | It | information |  | darkness |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is capable of retaining learned behaviour for a period of months

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:191-myths-and-cartoons-put-right:e3:o4:1
# text = It is capable of retaining learned behaviour for a period of months
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	capable	capable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	retaining	retain	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
6	learned	learn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	amod	_	_
7	behaviour	behaviour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	period	period	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  |  | capable *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **retain** | gerund |  | learned behaviour |  |  |  | for a period of months | tree rules |
| 3 | **learn** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

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