Exam question 4 · The Amazon canopy: howlers, harpy eagles, toucans, dart fr…

Ascertain the function of the gripping tail of the spider monkey.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, grip · To what, where: function

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 function	det
3	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 tail	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 tail	det
6	gripping	grip	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 tail	amod
7	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 function	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	11 monkey	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 monkey	det
10	spider	spider	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 monkey	compound
11	monkey	monkey	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 tail	nmod
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the function of the gripping tail of the spider monkey					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent function=Topic
2	grip	gerund							vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP»: 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 · ← Mova's choice

It serves exclusively for balance during leaping

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 serves	nsubj
2	serves	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	2 serves	advmod
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 balance	case
5	balance	balance	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 serves	obl
6	during	during	ADP	_	7 leaping	mark
7	leaping	leap	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 serves	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	serve	present	It					for balance; exclusively property	vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent for balance=Recipient
2	leap	gerund							vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

It supports the full weight of the animal in the manner of a fifth hand

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 supports	nsubj
2	supports	support	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 weight	det
4	full	full	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 weight	amod
5	weight	weight	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 supports	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 animal	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 animal	det
8	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 weight	nmod
9	in	in	ADP	_	11 manner	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 manner	det
11	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 supports	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	15 hand	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 hand	det
14	fifth	fifth	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 hand	amod
15	hand	hand	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 manner	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	support	present	It	the full weight of the animal		the manner of a fifth hand			vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer weight=Stimulus

Option 3

It is employed principally in the excavation of roots and in the digging of nests

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 employed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 employed	aux:pass
3	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	principally	principally	ADV	_	3 employed	advmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 excavation	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 excavation	det
7	excavation	excavation	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 employed	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 roots	case
9	roots	root	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 excavation	nmod
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 digging	cc
11	in	in	ADP	_	13 digging	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 digging	det
13	digging	digging	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 excavation	conj
14	of	of	ADP	_	15 nests	case
15	nests	nest	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 digging	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	employ	present · passive		It	the excavation of roots and the digging of nests	principally property	vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	excavate		roots				nom excavation «act intransitive»: of=agent
3	dig			nests			nom digging «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

It serves to repel insects

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 serves	nsubj
2	serves	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 repel	mark
4	repel	repel	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 serves	xcomp
5	insects	insect	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 repel	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	serve	present	It						tree rules
2	repel	to-infinitive		insects					vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus insect=Experiencer

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/e4/