Exam question 3 · How real cats hunt: stalking, waiting and pouncing

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning feline vision in the absence of light.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: select, establish, absent · To what, where: response, absence, light

This is exam question 3 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 vision	amod
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concerning	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 vision	amod
10	feline	feline	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 vision	compound
11	vision	vision	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
12	in	in	ADP	_	14 absence	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 absence	det
14	absence	absence	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obl
15	of	of	ADP	_	16 light	case
16	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 absence	nmod
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	the absence of light	tree rules
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	absent			light		nom absence «state transitive»: of=patient

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

The cat perceives only the colour green at night, and every other colour vanishes until dawn

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 cat	det
2	cat	cat	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 perceives	nsubj
3	perceives	perceive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	only	only	ADV	_	7 green	advmod
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 green	det
6	colour	colour	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 green	compound
7	green	green	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 perceives	obl
8	at	at	ADP	_	9 night	case
9	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 perceives	obl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 vanishes	punct
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 vanishes	cc
12	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	14 colour	det
13	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 colour	amod
14	colour	colour	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 vanishes	nsubj
15	vanishes	vanish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 perceives	conj
16	until	until	ADP	_	17 dawn	case
17	dawn	dawn	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 vanishes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	perceive	present	the cat	the colour green			night		vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer
2	vanish	present	every other colour				dawn		vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

In total darkness the cat is unable to see, though it requires far less light than a human

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	In	in	ADP	_	3 darkness	case
2	total	total	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 darkness	amod
3	darkness	darkness	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 unable	obl
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 cat	det
5	cat	cat	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 unable	nsubj
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 unable	cop
7	unable	unable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
8	to	to	PART	_	9 see	mark
9	see	see	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 unable	xcomp
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 requires	punct
11	though	though	SCONJ	_	13 requires	mark
12	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 requires	nsubj
13	requires	require	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 unable	parataxis
14	far	far	ADV	Degree=Pos	15 less	advmod
15	less	less	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	16 light	amod
16	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 requires	obj
17	than	than	ADP	_	19 human	case
18	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	19 human	det
19	human	human	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 requires	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	is	present	the cat		total darkness	unable property	tree rules
2	see	to-infinitive	the cat not said here				vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer
3	require	present	cat	less light		than a human	vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme light=Precondition

Option 3

The cat relies upon its eyes to emit a faint illumination of their own in darkness

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 cat	det
2	cat	cat	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 relies	nsubj
3	relies	rely	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	6 eyes	case
5	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 eyes	nmod:poss
6	eyes	eye	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 relies	obl
7	to	to	PART	_	8 emit	mark
8	emit	emit	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 relies	advcl
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 illumination	det
10	faint	faint	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 illumination	amod
11	illumination	illumination	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 emit	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 own	case
13	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 own	nmod:poss
14	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 illumination	nmod
15	in	in	ADP	_	16 darkness	case
16	darkness	darkness	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 emit	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rely	present	the cat					upon cat's eyes	vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S_ING»: agent=Agent
2	emit	to-infinitive	the cat not said here	a faint illumination of eyes's own		darkness			vn substance_emission-43.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Source illumination=Theme

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

The cat sees perfectly in total darkness, as well as by daylight

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 cat	det
2	cat	cat	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 sees	nsubj
3	sees	see	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	perfectly	perfectly	ADV	_	3 sees	advmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 darkness	case
6	total	total	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 darkness	amod
7	darkness	darkness	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 sees	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 daylight	punct
9	as	as	ADV	ExtPos=CCONJ	13 daylight	cc
10	well	well	ADV	Degree=Pos	9 as	fixed
11	as	as	ADP	_	9 as	fixed
12	by	by	ADP	_	13 daylight	case
13	daylight	daylight	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 sees	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	see	present	the cat			total darkness		by daylight; perfectly property	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer

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.

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