Exam question 2 · How real cats hunt: stalking, waiting and pouncing

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the hunting strategy predominantly employed by the domestic cat?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris, employ · To what, where: hunting strategy

This is exam question 2 of lesson 119 «How real cats hunt: stalking, waiting and pouncing» 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.

The question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 strategy	det
10	hunting	hunting	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 strategy	compound
11	strategy	strategy	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	predominantly	predominantly	ADV	_	13 employed	advmod
13	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 strategy	acl
14	by	by	ADP	_	17 cat	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 cat	det
16	domestic	domestic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 cat	amod
17	cat	cat	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 employed	obl
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the hunting strategy	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	employ	participle	the hunting strategy not said here	by the domestic cat; predominantly property	vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

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

It obtains prey exclusively by scavenging the remains left by other predators

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 obtains	nsubj
2	obtains	obtain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 obtains	obj
4	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	2 obtains	advmod
5	by	by	SCONJ	_	6 scavenging	mark
6	scavenging	scavenge	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 obtains	advcl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 remains	det
8	remains	remains	NOUN	Number=Ptan	6 scavenging	obj
9	left	leave	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 remains	acl
10	by	by	ADP	_	12 predators	case
11	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 predators	amod
12	predators	predator	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 left	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	obtain	present	It	prey	exclusively property	vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset prey=Theme
2	scavenge	gerund		the remains		vn search-35.2 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent remains=Location
3	leave	participle		the remains not said here	by other predators	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent by predator=Location

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

It waits motionless near a location from which prey is expected to emerge

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 waits	nsubj
2	waits	wait	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	motionless	motionless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 waits	xcomp
4	near	near	ADP	_	6 location	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 location	det
6	location	location	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 waits	obl
7	from	from	ADP	_	8 which	case
8	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 expected	obl
9	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 expected	nsubj:pass
10	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 expected	aux:pass
11	expected	expect	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 location	acl:relcl
12	to	to	PART	_	13 emerge	mark
13	emerge	emerge	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	11 expected	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	wait	present	It		a location	motionless property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme near location=Location
2	expect	present · passive		prey	a location		tree rules
3	emerge not said to happen	to-infinitive	prey not said here				vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3

It hunts collectively in large organised groups

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 hunts	nsubj
2	hunts	hunt	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	collectively	collectively	ADV	_	2 hunts	advmod
4	in	in	ADP	_	7 groups	case
5	large	large	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 groups	amod
6	organised	organised	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 groups	amod
7	groups	group	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 hunts	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hunt	present	It			large organised groups		collectively property	vn hunt-35.1 «NP V PP.theme PP.location»: agent=Agent in group=Location

Option 4

It pursues prey over great distances until the prey collapses from exhaustion

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 pursues	nsubj
2	pursues	pursue	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 pursues	obj
4	over	over	ADP	_	6 distances	case
5	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 distances	amod
6	distances	distance	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 pursues	obl
7	until	until	SCONJ	_	10 collapses	mark
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 prey	det
9	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 collapses	nsubj
10	collapses	collapse	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 pursues	advcl
11	from	from	ADP	_	12 exhaustion	case
12	exhaustion	exhaustion	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 collapses	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pursue	present	It	prey				over great distances	vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent prey=Theme over distance=Trajectory
2	collapse	present	the prey			exhaustion			vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/119-how-real-cats-hunt/e2/