---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — Cells, bones and muscles · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the action of skeletal muscle upon bone? Exam question 2 of lesson 64 «Cells, bones and muscles» 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 w
---

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# Exam question 2 · Cells, bones and muscles

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the action of skeletal muscle upon bone?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** skeletal muscle · **What happens:** follow, characteris, act · **To what, where:** action

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 64 «Cells, bones and muscles» 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/64-cells-bones-and-muscles/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:64-cells-bones-and-muscles:e2:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the action of skeletal muscle upon bone?
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	action	action	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	skeletal	skeletal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	muscle	muscle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	bone	bone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	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 action of skeletal muscle upon bone |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **act** |  | skeletal muscle upon bone |  |  |  |  |  | nom action «act intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Muscle rotates bones by spinning them within their sockets

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:64-cells-bones-and-muscles:e2:o1:1
# text = Muscle rotates bones by spinning them within their sockets
1	Muscle	muscle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	rotates	rotate	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	bones	bone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	spinning	spin	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	within	within	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	sockets	socket	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rotate** | present | Muscle | bones |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location bone=Theme |
| 2 | **spin** | gerund | Muscle *not said here* | bones *= bone* |  |  |  | within bones's sockets | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Muscle acts exclusively by pushing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:64-cells-bones-and-muscles:e2:o2:1
# text = Muscle acts exclusively by pushing
1	Muscle	muscle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	acts	act	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	pushing	push	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **act** | present | Muscle |  |  |  |  | exclusively *property* | vn act-114-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **push** | gerund | Muscle *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn push-12-1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Muscle acts upon bone only during sleep

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:64-cells-bones-and-muscles:e2:o3:1
# text = Muscle acts upon bone only during sleep
1	Muscle	muscle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	acts	act	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	bone	bone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
5	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	during	during	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	sleep	sleep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **act** | present | Muscle |  |  |  | during sleep | upon bone | vn act-114-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Muscle acts only by pulling, often in opposing pairs

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:64-cells-bones-and-muscles:e2:o4:1
# text = Muscle acts only by pulling, often in opposing pairs
1	Muscle	muscle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	acts	act	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	pulling	pull	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	often	often	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
8	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	opposing	oppose	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	conj	_	_
10	pairs	pair	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **act** | present | Muscle |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **pull** | gerund | Muscle *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn slide-11.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **oppose** | gerund | Muscle *not said here* | pairs |  |  |  | often *property* | vn amalgamate-22.2-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pair=Patient |

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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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- ← previous: [Cells, bones and muscles, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/64-cells-bones-and-muscles/e1/)
- next →: [Cells, bones and muscles, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/64-cells-bones-and-muscles/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Cells, bones and muscles](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/64-cells-bones-and-muscles/)