---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — Horses, zebras and donkeys · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the parentage of a mule? Exam question 2 of lesson 25 «Horses, zebras and donkeys» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was wrong.
---

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# Exam question 2 · Horses, zebras and donkeys

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the parentage of a mule?

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 25 «Horses, zebras and donkeys» 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/25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys:e2:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the parentage of a mule?
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	parentage	parentage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	mule	mule	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 parentage of a mule |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **parent** |  |  | a mule |  |  |  |  | nom parentage «state transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 the offspring of two wild horses

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys:e2:o1:1
# text = It is the offspring of two wild horses
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	offspring	offspring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
7	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | the offspring |  |  |  | of two wild horses | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is the offspring of a male horse and a female zebra

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys:e2:o2:1
# text = It is the offspring of a male horse and a female zebra
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	offspring	offspring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	male	male	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	female	female	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	zebra	zebra	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | the offspring and a female zebra |  |  |  | of a male horse | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is the offspring of a male zebra and a female donkey

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys:e2:o3:1
# text = It is the offspring of a male zebra and a female donkey
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	offspring	offspring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	male	male	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	zebra	zebra	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	female	female	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	donkey	donkey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | the offspring |  |  |  | of a male zebra and a female donkey | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys:e2:o4:1
# text = It is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	offspring	offspring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	male	male	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	donkey	donkey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	female	female	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | the offspring |  |  |  | of a male donkey and a female horse | tree rules |

<!-- 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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- ← previous: [Horses, zebras and donkeys, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys/e1/)
- next →: [Horses, zebras and donkeys, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Horses, zebras and donkeys](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys/)