Exam question 3 · Babe: real pigs, sheep and sheepdogs

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the crowing of the domestic fowl at dawn?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: domestic fowl · What happens: follow, characteris, crow · To what, where: crowing

This is exam question 3 of lesson 144 «Babe: real pigs, sheep and sheepdogs» 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	10 crowing	det
10	crowing	crowing	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 fowl	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 fowl	det
13	domestic	domestic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 fowl	amod
14	fowl	fowl	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 crowing	nmod
15	at	at	ADP	_	16 dawn	case
16	dawn	dawn	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 fowl	nmod
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the crowing of the domestic fowl at dawn	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	crow		the domestic fowl at dawn			nom crowing «communication intransitive»: of=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 occurs exclusively upon the sun becoming visible

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 occurs	nsubj
2	occurs	occur	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	2 occurs	advmod
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	6 sun	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 sun	det
6	sun	sun	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 occurs	obl
7	becoming	become	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 occurs	advcl
8	visible	visible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 becoming	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	occur	present	It			the sun		exclusively property	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme upon sun=Location
2	become	gerund						visible property	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient

Option 2

It is performed by any farm bird at all, but only upon the instruction of the farmer

The tree, 17 words

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 performed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 performed	aux:pass
3	performed	perform	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	7 bird	case
5	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	7 bird	det
6	farm	farm	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 bird	compound
7	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 performed	obl
8	at	at	ADP	_	9 all	case
9	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	7 bird	nmod
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 instruction	punct
11	but	but	CCONJ	_	15 instruction	cc
12	only	only	ADV	_	15 instruction	advmod
13	upon	upon	ADP	_	15 instruction	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 instruction	det
15	instruction	instruction	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 performed	obl
16	of	of	ADP	_	18 farmer	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 farmer	det
18	farmer	farmer	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 instruction	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	perform	present · passive	any farm bird at all	It				upon the instruction of the farmer	vn performance-26.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme
2	instruct			the farmer					nom instruction «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It is performed by the male fowl in accordance with an internal clock, independently of the sunrise

The tree, 17 words

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 performed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 performed	aux:pass
3	performed	perform	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	7 fowl	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 fowl	det
6	male	male	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 fowl	amod
7	fowl	fowl	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 performed	obl
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 accordance	case
9	accordance	accordance	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 fowl	nmod
10	with	with	ADP	_	13 clock	case
11	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 clock	det
12	internal	internal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 clock	amod
13	clock	clock	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 performed	obl
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 sunrise	punct
15	independently	independently	ADV	_	18 sunrise	advmod
16	of	of	ADP	_	18 sunrise	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 sunrise	det
18	sunrise	sunrise	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 performed	parataxis

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	perform	present · passive	the male fowl in accordance	It				with a internal clock	vn performance-26.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

It is performed by ducks in the absence of a rooster

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 performed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 performed	aux:pass
3	performed	perform	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 ducks	case
5	ducks	duck	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 performed	obl
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 absence	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 absence	det
8	absence	absence	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 performed	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 rooster	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 rooster	det
11	rooster	rooster	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 absence	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	perform	present · passive	ducks	It		the absence of a rooster			vn performance-26.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme
2	absent			a rooster					nom absence «state 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.

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