Exam question 4 · Myth check: do ostriches bury their heads in the sand?

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the function of the stones swallowed by the ostrich?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, swallow · To what, where: function, stones

This is exam question 4 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	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 function	det
10	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 stones	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 stones	det
13	stones	stone	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 function	nmod
14	swallowed	swallow	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 stones	acl
15	by	by	ADP	_	17 ostrich	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 ostrich	det
17	ostrich	ostrich	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 swallowed	obl:agent
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the function of the stones	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	swallow	participle	the stones not said here		vn hiccup-40.1.1 «NP V»: agent=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

They are swallowed accidentally and serve no purpose

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 swallowed	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 swallowed	aux:pass
3	swallowed	swallow	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	accidentally	accidentally	ADV	_	3 swallowed	advmod
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 serve	cc
6	serve	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 swallowed	conj
7	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	8 purpose	det
8	purpose	purpose	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 serve	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	swallow	present · passive		They				accidentally property	vn gobble-39.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient
2	serve	present		no purpose					vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent purpose=Attribute

Option 2

They are regurgitated by the bird and arranged in a circle in order to construct the nest

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 regurgitated	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 regurgitated	aux:pass
3	regurgitated	regurgitate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 bird	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 bird	det
6	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 regurgitated	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 arranged	cc
8	arranged	arrange	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 regurgitated	conj
9	in	in	ADP	_	11 circle	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 circle	det
11	circle	circle	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 arranged	obl
12	in	in	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	15 construct	mark
13	order	order	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 in	fixed
14	to	to	PART	_	15 construct	mark
15	construct	construct	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 arranged	advcl
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 nest	det
17	nest	nest	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 construct	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	regurgitate	present · passive	the bird	They		vn exhale-40.1.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme
2	arrange	participle	the bird not said here		a circle	vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in circle=Destination
3	construct	to-infinitive	the bird not said here	the nest		vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nest=Result

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

They are retained in the gizzard and grind food, the bird possessing no teeth

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 retained	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 retained	aux:pass
3	retained	retain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 gizzard	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 gizzard	det
6	gizzard	gizzard	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 retained	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 grind	cc
8	grind	grind	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 retained	conj
9	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 grind	obj
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 bird	punct
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 bird	det
12	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 retained	parataxis
13	possessing	possess	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	12 bird	acl
14	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	15 teeth	det
15	teeth	tooth	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 possessing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	retain	present · passive		They	the gizzard	tree rules
2	grind	present		food		vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Patient
3	possess	gerund	the bird not said here	no teeth		vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot tooth=Theme

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

They serve as ballast against strong winds

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 serve	nsubj
2	serve	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	as	as	ADP	_	4 ballast	case
4	ballast	ballast	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 serve	obl
5	against	against	ADP	_	7 winds	case
6	strong	strong	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 winds	amod
7	winds	wind	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 ballast	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	serve	present	They					as ballast against strong winds	vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent as ballast=Attribute

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/e4/