Exam question 2 · Myth check: are bats blind?

Identify the principal means by which insectivorous bats determine the position of prey in darkness.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, principal, insectivorous bats · What happens: identify, mean, determine · To what, where: position · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 2 of lesson 153 «Myth check: are bats blind?» 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 determine	obl
7	insectivorous	insectivorous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 bats	amod
8	bats	bat	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 determine	nsubj
9	determine	determine	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 means	ccomp
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 position	det
11	position	position	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 determine	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 prey	case
13	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 position	nmod
14	in	in	ADP	_	15 darkness	case
15	darkness	darkness	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 prey	nmod
16	.	.	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 clause=Topic
3	determine	present	insectivorous bats	the position of prey in darkness	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent position=Topic

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 perception of heat emitted by the insects

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 perception	det
2	perception	perception	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 heat	case
4	heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 perception	nmod
5	emitted	emit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 perception	acl
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 insects	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 insects	det
8	insects	insect	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 emitted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	emit	participle		the perception of heat not said here				by the insects	vn substance_emission-43.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Source
2	perceive			heat					nom perception «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

The detection of the scent of insects at great distance by means of the large nose

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 detection	det
2	detection	detection	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 means	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 scent	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 scent	det
5	scent	scent	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 detection	nmod
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 insects	case
7	insects	insect	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 scent	nmod
8	at	at	ADP	_	10 distance	case
9	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 distance	amod
10	distance	distance	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 insects	nmod
11	by	by	ADP	_	12 means	case
12	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
13	of	of	ADP	_	16 nose	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 nose	det
15	large	large	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 nose	amod
16	nose	nose	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 means	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	mean	present	the detection of the scent of insects at great distance		of the large nose	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
2	detect			the scent of insects at great distance		nom detection «cognition transitive»: of=patient
3	scent			insects at great distance		nom scent «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The emission of high-pitched 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	_	7 calls	case
4	high	high	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 pitched	compound
5	-	-	PUNCT	_	4 high	punct
6	pitched	pitch	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 calls	amod
7	calls	call	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 emission	nmod
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 interpretation	cc
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 interpretation	det
10	interpretation	interpretation	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 calls	conj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 echoes	case
12	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 echoes	nmod:poss
13	echoes	echo	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 interpretation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	roles by
1	pitch	participle		vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	emit		pitched calls and the interpretation of calls's echoes	nom emission «act transitive»: of=patient
3	interpret		calls's echoes	nom interpretation «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

The tracing of insects by the light of the moon alone

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 tracing	det
2	tracing	tracing	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 insects	case
4	insects	insect	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 tracing	nmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 light	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 light	det
7	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 tracing	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 moon	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 moon	det
10	moon	moon	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 light	nmod
11	alone	alone	ADV	_	10 moon	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	trace		the light of the moon	insects					nom tracing «act transitive»: of=patient by=agent
2	light			the moon					nom light «phenomenon 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/153-are-bats-blind/e2/