Exam question 2 · Myth check: do ostriches bury their heads in the sand?

Identify the principal means by which the ostrich evades a predator.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, principal, ostrich · What happens: identify, mean, evade · To what, where: predator

This is exam question 2 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 principal	det
3	principal	principal	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 means	nsubj
4	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Identify	ccomp
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 evades	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 ostrich	det
8	ostrich	ostrich	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 evades	nsubj
9	evades	evade	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 means	parataxis
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 predator	det
11	predator	predator	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 evades	obj
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	mean	present	the principal		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
3	evade	present	the ostrich	a predator	vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent predator=Location

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 right answer

Flight on foot at a velocity of approximately seventy kilometres per hour

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Flight	flight	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	on	on	ADP	_	3 foot	case
3	foot	foot	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Flight	nmod
4	at	at	ADP	_	6 velocity	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 velocity	det
6	velocity	velocity	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Flight	nmod
7	of	of	ADP	_	10 kilometres	case
8	approximately	approximately	ADV	_	9 seventy	advmod
9	seventy	seventy	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	10 kilometres	nummod
10	kilometres	kilometre	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 velocity	nmod
11	per	per	ADP	_	12 hour	case
12	hour	hour	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 kilometres	nmod

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

Option 2

Ascent into the branches of trees

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Ascent	Ascent	PROPN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	into	into	ADP	_	4 branches	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 branches	det
4	branches	branch	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Ascent	nmod
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 trees	case
6	trees	tree	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 branches	nmod

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

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Concealment of the head beneath the surface of the ground until the predator has withdrawn

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Concealment	concealment	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 withdrawn	nsubj:pass
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 head	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 head	det
4	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Concealment	nmod
5	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	7 surface	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 surface	det
7	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 head	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 ground	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 ground	det
10	ground	ground	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 surface	nmod
11	until	until	ADP	_	13 predator	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 predator	det
13	predator	predator	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Concealment	nmod
14	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 withdrawn	aux
15	withdrawn	withdraw	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	withdraw	present · perfect · passive		Concealment of the head beneath the surface of the ground until the predator					vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	conceal			the head beneath the surface of the ground			until the predator		nom concealment «state transitive»: of=patient until=obl

Option 4

Prolonged feigning of death

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Prolonged	prolong	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 feigning	amod
2	feigning	feigning	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 death	case
4	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 feigning	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prolong	participle							vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent
2	feign			death					nom feigning «communication 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/151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand/e2/