Exam question 2 · The Amazon canopy: howlers, harpy eagles, toucans, dart fr…

Identify the principal reason for which the three-toed sloth descends from the canopy approximately once each week.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, toed sloth · What happens: identify, descend · To what, where: principal reason, canopy

This is exam question 2 of lesson 156 «The Amazon canopy: howlers, harpy eagles, toucans, dart frogs and sloth gardens» 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	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 descends	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 sloth	det
8	three	three	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	10 toed	nummod
9	-	-	PUNCT	_	8 three	punct
10	toed	toed	ADJ	_	11 sloth	amod
11	sloth	sloth	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 descends	nsubj
12	descends	descend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl
13	from	from	ADP	_	15 canopy	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 canopy	det
15	canopy	canopy	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 descends	obl
16	approximately	approximately	ADV	_	17 once	advmod
17	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	12 descends	advmod
18	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	19 week	det
19	week	week	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 once	obl:unmarked
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	descend	present	the toed sloth			the canopy		for the principal reason; once property	vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from canopy=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 · ← Mova's choice

To seek a mate upon the forest floor

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 seek	mark
2	seek	seek	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 mate	det
4	mate	mate	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 seek	obj
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	8 floor	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 floor	det
7	forest	forest	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 floor	compound
8	floor	floor	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 seek	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	seek	to-infinitive		a mate		the forest floor			vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent mate=Theme upon floor=Location

Option 2

To sleep within a burrow in the earth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 sleep	mark
2	sleep	sleep	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	within	within	ADP	_	5 burrow	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 burrow	det
5	burrow	burrow	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 sleep	obl
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 earth	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 earth	det
8	earth	earth	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 sleep	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sleep	to-infinitive				the earth		within a burrow	vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in earth=Location

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

To defecate upon the ground

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 defecate	mark
2	defecate	defecate	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	upon	upon	ADP	_	5 ground	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 ground	det
5	ground	ground	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 defecate	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	defecate	to-infinitive						upon the ground	vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4

To drink from the river below the tree

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 drink	mark
2	drink	drink	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	5 river	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 river	det
5	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 drink	obl
6	below	below	ADP	_	8 tree	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 tree	det
8	tree	tree	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 drink	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	drink	to-infinitive				the river		below the tree	vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V PP.source»: agent=Agent from river=Source

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/156-the-amazon-canopy/e2/