Exam question 3 · The city as a habitat

Ascertain the means by which the pipistrelle locates its insect prey in darkness.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, the, pipistrelle · What happens: ascertain, mean, locate · To what, where: insect prey, darkness

This is exam question 3 of lesson 14 «The city as a habitat» 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 means	nsubj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Ascertain	ccomp
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 locates	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 pipistrelle	det
7	pipistrelle	pipistrelle	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 locates	nsubj
8	locates	locate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 means	parataxis
9	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 prey	nmod:poss
10	insect	insect	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 prey	compound
11	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 locates	obj
12	in	in	ADP	_	13 darkness	case
13	darkness	darkness	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 locates	obl
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here			vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	mean	present	the			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
3	locate	present	the pipistrelle	pipistrelle's insect prey	darkness	tree rules

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 detection of the body heat of insects through its feet

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 detection	det
2	detection	detection	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 heat	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 heat	det
5	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 heat	compound
6	heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 detection	nmod
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 insects	case
8	insects	insect	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 heat	nmod
9	through	through	ADP	_	11 feet	case
10	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 feet	nmod:poss
11	feet	foot	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 detection	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	detect			the body heat of insects		heat's feet			nom detection «cognition transitive»: of=patient through=place
2	heat		insects						nom heat «phenomenon intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

The exclusive use of the light of street lamps

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 use	det
2	exclusive	exclusive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 use	amod
3	use	use	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 light	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 light	det
6	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 use	nmod
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 lamps	case
8	street	street	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 lamps	compound
9	lamps	lamp	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 light	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	use			the light of street lamps					nom use «act transitive»: of=patient
2	light			street lamps					nom light «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The emission of calls and the interpretation of their echoes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 emission	det
2	emission	emission	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 calls	case
4	calls	call	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 emission	nmod
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 interpretation	cc
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 interpretation	det
7	interpretation	interpretation	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 calls	conj
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 echoes	case
9	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 echoes	nmod:poss
10	echoes	echo	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 interpretation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	emit			calls and the interpretation of calls's echoes					nom emission «act transitive»: of=patient
2	interpret			calls's echoes					nom interpretation «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

It is blind and encounters its prey by chance

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	3 blind	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 blind	cop
3	blind	blind	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 encounters	cc
5	encounters	encounter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 blind	conj
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 prey	nmod:poss
7	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 encounters	obj
8	by	by	ADP	_	9 chance	case
9	chance	chance	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 encounters	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					blind property	tree rules
2	encounter	present		its prey				by chance	vn encounter-30.5 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer prey=Stimulus

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/14-the-city-as-a-habitat/e3/