Exam question 1 · Cats as hunters: presents on the doormat and why Tom never…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the hunting method of the domestic cat?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: hunting method

This is exam question 1 of lesson 198 «Cats as hunters: presents on the doormat and why Tom never catches Jerry» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 method	det
10	hunting	hunting	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 method	compound
11	method	method	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	15 cat	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 cat	det
14	domestic	domestic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 cat	amod
15	cat	cat	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 method	nmod
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the hunting method of the domestic cat				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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

It relies chiefly upon barking to flush out prey

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 relies	nsubj
2	relies	rely	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	chiefly	chiefly	ADV	_	2 relies	advmod
4	upon	upon	SCONJ	_	5 barking	mark
5	barking	bark	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 relies	advcl
6	to	to	PART	_	7 flush	mark
7	flush	flush	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 barking	xcomp
8	out	out	ADP	_	7 flush	compound:prt
9	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 flush	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	rely	present	It		chiefly property	vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S_ING»: agent=Agent
2	bark	gerund				vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	flush out	to-infinitive		prey		vn wipe_manner-10.4.1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent prey=Source

Option 2

It hunts exclusively by daylight in open fields

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 hunts	nsubj
2	hunts	hunt	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	2 hunts	advmod
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 daylight	case
5	daylight	daylight	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 hunts	obl
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 fields	case
7	open	open	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 fields	amod
8	fields	field	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 hunts	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hunt	present	It			open fields		by daylight; exclusively property	vn hunt-35.1 «NP V PP.theme PP.location»: agent=Agent by daylight=Location

Option 3

It pursues its prey continuously throughout the dwelling until the prey is exhausted

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 pursues	nsubj
2	pursues	pursue	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 prey	nmod:poss
4	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 pursues	obj
5	continuously	continuously	ADV	_	2 pursues	advmod
6	throughout	throughout	ADP	_	8 dwelling	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 dwelling	det
8	dwelling	dwelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 pursues	obl
9	until	until	SCONJ	_	13 exhausted	mark
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 prey	det
11	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 exhausted	nsubj:pass
12	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 exhausted	aux:pass
13	exhausted	exhaust	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 pursues	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pursue	present	It	its prey		the dwelling		continuously property	vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent prey=Theme throughout dwelling=Trajectory
2	exhaust	present · passive		the prey					vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It waits motionless, approaches by stealth and strikes in a single short burst

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 waits	nsubj
2	waits	wait	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	motionless	motionless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 waits	xcomp
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 approaches	punct
5	approaches	approach	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 waits	obl
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 stealth	case
7	stealth	stealth	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 waits	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 strikes	cc
9	strikes	strike	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 waits	conj
10	in	in	ADP	_	14 burst	case
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 burst	det
12	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 burst	amod
13	short	short	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 burst	amod
14	burst	burst	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 strikes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	wait	present	It	approaches				by stealth; motionless property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by stealth=Location
2	strike	present				a single short burst			vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in burst=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/198-cats-as-hunters-presents-on-the-doormat-and-why-tom-never-catches-jerry/e1/