Exam question 1 · Madagascar: lemurs of every kind and the fossa

Identify the principal reason for which the aye-aye taps upon the wood of trees.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, aye aye · What happens: identify, tap · To what, where: principal reason

This is exam question 1 of lesson 163 «Madagascar: lemurs of every kind and the fossa» 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	11 taps	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 aye	det
8	aye	aye	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 aye	compound
9	-	-	PUNCT	_	8 aye	punct
10	aye	aye	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 taps	nsubj
11	taps	tap	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	parataxis
12	upon	upon	ADP	_	14 wood	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 wood	det
14	wood	wood	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 taps	obl
15	of	of	ADP	_	16 trees	case
16	trees	tree	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 wood	nmod
17	.	.	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	tap	present	the aye aye					for the principal reason; upon the wood of trees	vn investigate-35.4 «NP V NP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent for which=Theme

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 right answer

The detection by sound of hollow tunnels containing larvae

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	root	root
3	by	by	ADP	_	4 sound	case
4	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 detection	nmod
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 tunnels	case
6	hollow	hollow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 tunnels	amod
7	tunnels	tunnel	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 sound	nmod
8	containing	contain	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 tunnels	acl
9	larvae	larva	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 containing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	contain	gerund	hollow tunnels not said here	larvae					vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot larva=Theme
2	detect		sound of hollow tunnels						nom detection «cognition transitive»: by=agent

Option 2

The deterrence of approaching birds

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 deterrence	det
2	deterrence	deterrence	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	SCONJ	_	4 approaching	mark
4	approaching	approach	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 deterrence	acl
5	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 approaching	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	approach	gerund	the deterrence not said here	birds					vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bird=Theme

Option 3

The cracking of the shells of nuts

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 cracking	det
2	cracking	cracking	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 shells	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 shells	det
5	shells	shell	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 cracking	nmod
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 nuts	case
7	nuts	nut	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 shells	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	crack		the shells of nuts						nom cracking «event intransitive»: of=agent

Option 4

The communication of alarm to other aye-ayes by means of a loud tapping

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 communication	det
2	communication	communication	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 means	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 alarm	case
4	alarm	alarm	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 communication	nmod
5	to	to	ADP	_	9 ayes	case
6	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 ayes	amod
7	aye	aye	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 ayes	compound
8	-	-	PUNCT	_	7 aye	punct
9	ayes	ay	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 communication	nmod
10	by	by	ADP	_	9 ayes	nmod
11	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
12	of	of	ADP	_	15 tapping	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 tapping	det
14	loud	loud	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 tapping	amod
15	tapping	tapping	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 means	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mean	present	the communication of alarm to other aye ayes					of a loud tapping	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
2	communicate		alarm					to other aye ayes	nom communication «communication intransitive»: of=agent to=obl

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/163-madagascar-lemurs-of-every-kind-and-the-fossa/e1/