Exam question 2 · Training a dog with rewards and patience

Identify the principal function of the clicker employed in animal training.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, employ · To what, where: principal function, clicker, animal training

This is exam question 2 of lesson 195 «Training a dog with rewards and patience» 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 function	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 function	amod
4	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 clicker	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 clicker	det
7	clicker	clicker	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 function	nmod
8	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 clicker	acl
9	in	in	ADP	_	11 training	case
10	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 training	compound
11	training	training	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 employed	obl
12	.	.	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 function of the clicker					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent function=Theme
2	employ	participle		the clicker not said here		animal training			vn hire-13.5.3 «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

To signal the conclusion of the meal

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 signal	mark
2	signal	signal	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 conclusion	det
4	conclusion	conclusion	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 signal	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 meal	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 meal	det
7	meal	meal	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 conclusion	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signal speech: other	to-infinitive		the conclusion of the meal					vn instr_communication-37.4.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent conclusion=Topic
2	conclude			the meal					nom conclusion «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

To frighten the animal into compliance by means of a sudden sharp noise

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 frighten	mark
2	frighten	frighten	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 means	advcl
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 animal	det
4	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 frighten	obj
5	into	into	ADP	_	6 compliance	case
6	compliance	compliance	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 frighten	obl
7	by	by	ADP	_	8 means	case
8	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	of	of	ADP	_	13 noise	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 noise	det
11	sudden	sudden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 noise	amod
12	sharp	sharp	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 noise	amod
13	noise	noise	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 means	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	frighten	to-infinitive		the animal		compliance			vn bully-59.5 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent animal=Patient into compliance=Eventuality
2	mean	present						of a sudden sharp noise	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent

Option 3

To summon other animals

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 summon	mark
2	summon	summon	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 animals	amod
4	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 summon	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	summon	to-infinitive			other animals				vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent animal=Recipient

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

To mark the precise moment at which the desired action was performed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 mark	mark
2	mark	mark	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 moment	det
4	precise	precise	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 moment	amod
5	moment	moment	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 mark	obj
6	at	at	ADP	_	7 which	case
7	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 performed	obl
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 action	det
9	desired	desire	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 action	amod
10	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 performed	nsubj:pass
11	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	12 performed	aux:pass
12	performed	perform	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 moment	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	when	roles by
1	mark	to-infinitive		moment	vn image_impression-25.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	desire	participle			vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot
3	perform	past · passive	the desired action	at the precise moment	vn performance-26.7 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

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/195-training-a-dog-with-rewards-and-patience/e2/