Exam question 4 · Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck: real rabbits, hares and ducks

Ascertain the process whereby newly hatched ducklings come to follow their mother.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, hatched ducklings · What happens: ascertain, hatch, come, follow · To what, where: process, mother

This is exam question 4 of lesson 123 «Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck: real rabbits, hares and ducks» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 process	det
3	process	process	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	whereby	whereby	ADV	PronType=Int	8 come	advmod
5	newly	newly	ADV	_	6 hatched	advmod
6	hatched	hatch	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 ducklings	amod
7	ducklings	duckling	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 come	nsubj
8	come	come	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 process	acl:relcl
9	to	to	PART	_	10 follow	mark
10	follow	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 come	xcomp
11	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 mother	nmod:poss
12	mother	mother	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 follow	obj
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the process		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent process=Topic
2	hatch	participle			newly property	vn grow-26.2.1 «NP.patient V PP.product»: agent=Patient
3	come	present	hatched ducklings		whereby property	tree rules
4	follow	to-infinitive	hatched ducklings not said here	ducklings's mother		vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mother=Theme

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

Instruction by the father prior to hatching

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Instruction	instruction	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	by	by	ADP	_	4 father	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 father	det
4	father	father	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Instruction	nmod
5	prior	prior	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	7 hatching	case
6	to	to	ADP	_	5 prior	fixed
7	hatching	hatching	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Instruction	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	instruct		the father					prior hatching	nom instruction «communication transitive»: by=agent prior=obl

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Imprinting upon the first moving object perceived after hatching

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Imprinting	imprint	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 perceived	csubj
2	upon	upon	ADP	_	6 object	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 object	det
4	first	first	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	6 object	amod
5	moving	move	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 object	amod
6	object	object	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Imprinting	obl
7	perceived	perceive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	after	after	SCONJ	_	9 hatching	mark
9	hatching	hatch	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	7 perceived	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	roles by
1	imprint	gerund		the first moving object	vn image_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.theme PP.destination»: agent=Agent upon object=Destination
2	move	gerund			vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme
3	perceive	past	Imprinting		vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer
4	hatch	gerund	Imprinting not said here		vn grow-26.2.1 «NP.patient V PP.product»: agent=Patient

Option 3

Attraction exclusively to the colour of the mother's plumage

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Attraction	attraction	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 colour	nsubj
2	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	5 colour	advmod
3	to	to	ADP	_	5 colour	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 colour	det
5	colour	colour	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	of	of	ADP	_	10 plumage	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 mother	det
8	mother	mother	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 plumage	nmod:poss
9	's	's	PART	_	8 mother	case
10	plumage	plumage	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 colour	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4

Physical attachment by means of vegetation

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Physical	physical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 attachment	amod
2	attachment	attachment	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	by	by	ADP	_	4 means	case
4	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 attachment	acl:relcl
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 vegetation	case
6	vegetation	vegetation	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 attachment	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mean	present	Physical attachment of vegetation not said here						vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
2	attach			vegetation					nom attachment «feeling transitive»: of=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/123-bugs-bunny-and-daffy-duck-real-rabbits-hares-and-ducks/e4/