Exam question 4 · Strange islands: Komodo dragons, the dodo, red crabs, kaka…

Ascertain the principal reason for which the kakapo of New Zealand lost the capacity for flight.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, kakapo · What happens: ascertain, lose · To what, where: principal reason, capacity

This is exam question 4 of lesson 181 «Strange islands: Komodo dragons, the dodo, red crabs, kakapos, giants and dwarfs» 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	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 lost	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 kakapo	det
8	kakapo	kakapo	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 lost	nsubj
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 Zealand	case
10	New	New	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 Zealand	flat
11	Zealand	Zealand	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 kakapo	nmod
12	lost	lose	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl:relcl
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 capacity	det
14	capacity	capacity	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 lost	obj
15	for	for	ADP	_	16 flight	case
16	flight	flight	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 lost	obl
17	.	.	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 principal reason					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	lose	past	the kakapo of New Zealand	the capacity				for the principal reason; for flight	vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent capacity=Eventuality

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 was domesticated by early settlers

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 domesticated	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 domesticated	aux:pass
3	domesticated	domesticate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 settlers	case
5	early	early	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 settlers	amod
6	settlers	settler	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 domesticated	obl:agent

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	domesticate	past · passive	early settlers	It					vn remedy-45.7-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent subject=Patient

Option 2

Its feathers were destroyed by the cold of the southern winters

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 feathers	nmod:poss
2	feathers	feather	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 destroyed	nsubj:pass
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 destroyed	aux:pass
4	destroyed	destroy	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 cold	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 cold	det
7	cold	cold	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 destroyed	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	11 winters	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 winters	det
10	southern	southern	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 winters	amod
11	winters	winter	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 cold	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	destroy	past · passive	the cold of the southern winters	Its feathers					vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient

Option 3

It acquired the habit of swimming instead

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 acquired	nsubj
2	acquired	acquire	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 habit	det
4	habit	habit	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 acquired	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 swimming	case
6	swimming	swimming	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 habit	nmod
7	instead	instead	ADV	_	2 acquired	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	acquire	past	It	the habit of swimming				instead property	vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset habit=Theme

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

Its homeland lacked mammalian predators hunting on the ground

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 homeland	nmod:poss
2	homeland	homeland	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 lacked	nsubj
3	lacked	lack	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	mammalian	mammalian	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 predators	amod
5	predators	predator	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 lacked	obj
6	hunting	hunt	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 predators	acl
7	on	on	ADP	_	9 ground	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 ground	det
9	ground	ground	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 hunting	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lack	past	Its homeland	mammalian predators					tree rules
2	hunt	gerund	mammalian predators not said here			the ground			vn hunt-35.1 «NP V PP.theme PP.location»: agent=Agent on ground=Location

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/181-strange-islands-komodo-dragons-the-dodo-red-crabs-kakapos-giants-and-dwarfs/e4/