Exam question 4 · How real mice survive: squeezing, climbing and hiding

Determine the reason for which pest controllers position traps along walls rather than in open areas.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: determine · To what, where: reason

This is exam question 4 of lesson 120 «How real mice survive: squeezing, climbing and hiding» 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	Determine	determine	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Determine	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	DET	PronType=Int	7 controllers	det
6	pest	pest	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 controllers	compound
7	controllers	controller	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 reason	nmod
8	position	position	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 traps	compound
9	traps	trap	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 controllers	conj
10	along	along	ADP	_	11 walls	case
11	walls	wall	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 controllers	nmod
12	rather	rather	ADV	ExtPos=CCONJ	16 areas	cc
13	than	than	ADP	_	12 rather	fixed
14	in	in	ADP	_	16 areas	case
15	open	open	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 areas	amod
16	areas	area	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 walls	conj
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Determine	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	determine	imperative	you not said here	the reason which pest controllers along walls rather open areas and position traps					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic

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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Mice habitually travel along walls and avoid open spaces

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Mice	mouse	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 travel	nsubj
2	habitually	habitually	ADV	_	3 travel	advmod
3	travel	travel	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	along	along	ADP	_	5 walls	case
5	walls	wall	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 travel	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 avoid	cc
7	avoid	avoid	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 travel	conj
8	open	open	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 spaces	amod
9	spaces	space	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 avoid	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	travel	present	Mice			walls		habitually property	vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme along wall=Trajectory
2	avoid	present	Mice not said here	open spaces					vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent space=Location

Option 2

Walls emit a scent attractive to rodents

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Walls	wall	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 emit	nsubj
2	emit	emit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 scent	det
4	scent	scent	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 emit	obj
5	attractive	attractive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 emit	xcomp
6	to	to	ADP	_	7 rodents	case
7	rodents	rodent	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 emit	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	emit	present	Walls	a scent				to rodents; attractive property	vn substance_emission-43.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Source scent=Theme

Option 3

Traps are prohibited in the centre of rooms

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Traps	trap	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 prohibited	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 prohibited	aux:pass
3	prohibited	prohibit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 centre	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 centre	det
6	centre	centre	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 prohibited	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 rooms	case
8	rooms	room	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 centre	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prohibit	present · passive		Traps		the centre of rooms			vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 4

Mice are incapable of crossing open floors

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Mice	mouse	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 incapable	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 incapable	cop
3	incapable	incapable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	of	of	SCONJ	_	5 crossing	mark
5	crossing	cross	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 incapable	advcl
6	open	open	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 floors	amod
7	floors	floor	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 crossing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Mice					incapable property	tree rules
2	cross	gerund	Mice not said here	open floors					vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent floor=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.

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