Exam question 4 · Cats: purring, whiskers, night eyes and grooming

It is given that a domestic cat sleeps for the greater part of the day. Ascertain the most accurate explanation.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: domestic cat, you · What happens: give, sleep, ascertain · To what, where: It, accurate explanation

This is exam question 4 of lesson 197 «Cats: purring, whiskers, night eyes and grooming» 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

Sentence 1: It is given that a domestic cat sleeps for the greater part of the day.

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 given	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 given	aux:pass
3	given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	that	that	SCONJ	_	8 sleeps	mark
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 cat	det
6	domestic	domestic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 cat	amod
7	cat	cat	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 sleeps	nsubj
8	sleeps	sleep	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 given	advcl
9	for	for	ADP	_	12 part	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 part	det
11	greater	great	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	12 part	amod
12	part	part	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 sleeps	obl
13	of	of	ADP	_	15 day	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 day	det
15	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 part	nmod
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 given	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	present · passive		It					vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	sleep	present	a domestic cat					for the greater part of the day	vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: 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.

Sentence 2: Ascertain the most accurate explanation.

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	5 explanation	det
3	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	4 accurate	advmod
4	accurate	accurate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 explanation	amod
5	explanation	explanation	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
6	.	.	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 accurate explanation					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent explanation=Topic

The options

Option 1

Sleep is required solely in the winter months, when hunting is impossible

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Sleep	sleep	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 required	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 required	aux:pass
3	required	require	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	solely	solely	ADV	_	3 required	advmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	8 months	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 months	det
7	winter	winter	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 months	compound
8	months	month	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 required	obl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 hunting	punct
10	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	11 hunting	advmod
11	hunting	hunt	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	13 impossible	csubj
12	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 impossible	cop
13	impossible	impossible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 required	parataxis

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	require	present · passive		Sleep	month	solely property	vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Precondition
2	hunt	gerund					vn hunt-35.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	is	present	hunting			impossible property	tree rules

Option 2

The animal is invariably unwell

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 animal	det
2	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 unwell	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 unwell	cop
4	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	5 unwell	advmod
5	unwell	unwell	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the animal					invariably, unwell property	tree rules

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Energy is conserved for hunting at dawn and dusk, when prey is active

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Energy	energy	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 conserved	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 conserved	aux:pass
3	conserved	conserve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 hunting	case
5	hunting	hunting	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 conserved	obl
6	at	at	ADP	_	7 dawn	case
7	dawn	dawn	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 conserved	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 dusk	cc
9	dusk	dusk	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 dawn	conj
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 active	punct
11	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	14 active	advmod
12	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 active	nsubj
13	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 active	cop
14	active	active	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 conserved	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	conserve	present · passive		Energy			dawn	for hunting	tree rules
2	is	present	prey					active property	tree rules

Option 4

The animal is incapable of remaining awake, its brain lacking the required strength

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 animal	det
2	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 incapable	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 incapable	cop
4	incapable	incapable	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	of	of	SCONJ	_	6 remaining	mark
6	remaining	remain	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 incapable	acl
7	awake	awake	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 remaining	xcomp
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 brain	punct
9	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 brain	nmod:poss
10	brain	brain	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 incapable	conj
11	lacking	lack	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 brain	acl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 strength	det
13	required	require	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 strength	amod
14	strength	strength	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 lacking	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is a	present	the animal	incapable and animal's brain		tree rules
2	remain	gerund	incapable and animal's brain not said here		awake property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	lack	gerund	animal's brain not said here	the required strength		tree rules
4	require	participle				vn require-103-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=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/197-cats-purring-whiskers-night-eyes-and-grooming/e4/