Exam question 4 · The Arctic tundra: musk oxen, arctic foxes, snowy owls and…

Ascertain the reason for which the snowy owl hunts during the hours of daylight.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, snowy owl · What happens: ascertain, hunt · To what, where: reason

This is exam question 4 of lesson 168 «The Arctic tundra: musk oxen, arctic foxes, snowy owls and the truth about lemmings» 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 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 hunts	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 owl	det
7	snowy	snowy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 owl	amod
8	owl	owl	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 hunts	nsubj
9	hunts	hunt	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 reason	acl
10	during	during	ADP	_	12 hours	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 hours	det
12	hours	hour	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 hunts	obl
13	of	of	ADP	_	14 daylight	case
14	daylight	daylight	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 hours	nmod
15	.	.	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 reason					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	hunt	present	the snowy owl				hour	for the reason	vn hunt-35.1 «NP V PP.theme PP.location»: 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

It is fearful of darkness

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 fearful	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 fearful	cop
3	fearful	fearful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 darkness	case
5	darkness	darkness	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 fearful	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					of darkness; fearful property	tree rules

Option 2

Its eyes are incapable of vision at night

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 eyes	nmod:poss
2	eyes	eye	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 incapable	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 incapable	cop
4	incapable	incapable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 vision	case
6	vision	vision	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 incapable	obl
7	at	at	ADP	_	8 night	case
8	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 incapable	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Its eyes				night	of vision; incapable property	tree rules

Option 3

Its prey is active exclusively in daylight during the summer months

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 prey	nmod:poss
2	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 active	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 active	cop
4	active	active	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	4 active	advmod
6	in	in	ADP	_	7 daylight	case
7	daylight	daylight	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 active	obl
8	during	during	ADP	_	11 months	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 months	det
10	summer	summer	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 months	compound
11	months	month	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 active	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Its prey			daylight	month	active, exclusively property	tree rules

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The sun does not set during the Arctic summer

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 sun	det
2	sun	sun	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 set	nsubj
3	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 set	aux
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 set	advmod
5	set	set	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	during	during	ADP	_	9 summer	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 summer	det
8	Arctic	arctic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 summer	amod
9	summer	summer	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 set	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not set	present · do-support	the sun				summer		vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=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.

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