Exam question 1 · Myth check: do ostriches bury their heads in the sand?

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the alleged practice of ostriches burying their heads in sand.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, established facts, ostriches · What happens: select, establish, concern, bury, practice · To what, where: response, alleged practice, heads, sand, ostriches

This is exam question 1 of lesson 151 «Myth check: do ostriches bury their heads in the sand?» 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	1 Select	xcomp
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	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 practice	det
11	alleged	alleged	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 practice	amod
12	practice	practice	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
13	of	of	ADP	_	14 ostriches	case
14	ostriches	ostrich	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 practice	nmod
15	burying	bury	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	14 ostriches	acl
16	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	17 heads	nmod:poss
17	heads	head	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 burying	obj
18	in	in	ADP	_	19 sand	case
19	sand	sand	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 burying	obl
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response		consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle					vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the alleged practice of ostriches			vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus practice=Experiencer
4	bury	gerund	ostriches not said here	ostriches's heads	sand		vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent head=Theme in sand=Destination
5	practice			ostriches			nom practice «act 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 practice occurs exclusively among juvenile birds

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 practice	det
2	practice	practice	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 occurs	nsubj
3	occurs	occur	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	3 occurs	advmod
5	among	among	ADP	_	7 birds	case
6	juvenile	juvenile	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 birds	compound
7	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 occurs	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	occur	present	the practice					among juvenile birds; exclusively property	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme among bird=Location

Option 2

The practice is confined to periods of sleep

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 practice	det
2	practice	practice	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 confined	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 confined	aux:pass
4	confined	confine	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	ADP	_	6 periods	case
6	periods	period	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 confined	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 sleep	case
8	sleep	sleep	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 periods	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	confine	present · passive		the practice		periods of sleep			vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme to period=Destination

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The practice does not occur; the belief arose from observation of the bird lowering its head to the nest

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 practice	det
2	practice	practice	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 occur	nsubj
3	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 occur	aux
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 occur	advmod
5	occur	occur	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	;	;	PUNCT	_	9 arose	punct
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 belief	det
8	belief	belief	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 arose	nsubj
9	arose	arise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 occur	conj
10	from	from	ADP	_	11 observation	case
11	observation	observation	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 arose	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 bird	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 bird	det
14	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 observation	nmod
15	lowering	lower	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	14 bird	acl
16	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	17 head	nmod:poss
17	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 lowering	obj
18	to	to	ADP	_	20 nest	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 nest	det
20	nest	nest	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 arose	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	not occur	present · do-support	the practice				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	arise	past	the belief		observation of the bird	to the nest	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	lower	gerund	the bird not said here	belief's head			vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Theme
4	observe			the bird			nom observation «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

The practice occurs habitually when a predator approaches, the bird believing itself thereby concealed from view

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 practice	det
2	practice	practice	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 occurs	nsubj
3	occurs	occur	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	habitually	habitually	ADV	_	3 occurs	advmod
5	when	when	SCONJ	_	8 approaches	mark
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 predator	det
7	predator	predator	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 approaches	nsubj
8	approaches	approach	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 occurs	advcl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 concealed	punct
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 bird	det
11	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 concealed	nsubj
12	believing	believe	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	11 bird	acl
13	itself	itself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	12 believing	obj
14	thereby	thereby	ADV	_	15 concealed	advmod
15	concealed	conceal	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 approaches	conj
16	from	from	ADP	_	17 view	case
17	view	view	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 concealed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	occur	present	the practice			habitually property	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	approach	present	a predator				vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	believe	gerund	the bird not said here	bird			vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer itself=Stimulus
4	conceal	past	the bird		view	thereby property	vn concealment-16 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent from view=Beneficiary

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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