---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — Whales · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the visible spout emitted by a surfacing whale? Exam question 1 of lesson 26 «Whales» 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 1 · Whales

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the visible spout emitted by a surfacing whale?

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 26 «Whales» 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/26-whales/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:26-whales:e1:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the visible spout emitted by a surfacing whale?
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	11	det	_	_
10	visible	visible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	spout	spout	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
12	emitted	emit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	acl	_	_
13	by	by	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	surfacing	surfacing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	whale	whale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	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 visible spout |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **emit** | participle |  | the visible spout *not said here* |  |  |  | by a surfacing whale | vn substance\_emission-43.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Source |

<!-- .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 consists of seawater ingested and subsequently expelled

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:26-whales:e1:o1:1
# text = It consists of seawater ingested and subsequently expelled
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	consists	consist	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	seawater	seawater	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
5	ingested	ingest	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	subsequently	subsequently	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	expelled	expel	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **consist** | present | It |  |  |  |  | of seawater | tree rules |
| 2 | **ingest** | participle |  | seawater *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Goal |
| 3 | **expel** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | subsequently *property* | vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It consists of gas expelled from the gills

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:26-whales:e1:o2:1
# text = It consists of gas expelled from the gills
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	consists	consist	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	gas	gas	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
5	expelled	expel	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	gills	gill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **consist** | present | It |  |  |  |  | of gas | tree rules |
| 2 | **expel** | participle |  | gas *not said here* |  | the gills |  |  | vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent from gill=Source |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It consists of steam produced by digestion

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:26-whales:e1:o3:1
# text = It consists of steam produced by digestion
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	consists	consist	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	steam	steam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
5	produced	produce	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	digestion	digestion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **consist** | present | It |  |  |  |  | of steam | tree rules |
| 2 | **produce** | participle |  | steam *not said here* |  |  |  | by digestion | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It consists of exhaled warm and moist air forming a mist

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:26-whales:e1:o4:1
# text = It consists of exhaled warm and moist air forming a mist
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	consists	consist	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
4	exhaled	exhale	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	amod	_	_
5	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	moist	moist	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
8	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
9	forming	form	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	acl	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	mist	mist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **consist** | present | It |  |  |  |  | of exhaled warm air | tree rules |
| 2 | **exhale** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn exhale-40.1.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **form** | gerund | exhaled warm air *not said here* | a mist |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location mist=Theme |

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**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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