Exam question 4 · Cats as hunters: presents on the doormat and why Tom never…

Ascertain which of the following measures is recognised as reducing the predation of garden birds by pet cats.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, follow, recognise, reduce, predate · To what, where: predation, garden birds

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 recognised	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 measures	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 measures	det
5	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 measures	amod
6	measures	measure	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 which	nmod
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 recognised	aux:pass
8	recognised	recognise	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Ascertain	parataxis
9	as	as	SCONJ	_	10 reducing	mark
10	reducing	reduce	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 recognised	advcl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 predation	det
12	predation	predation	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 reducing	obj
13	of	of	ADP	_	15 birds	case
14	garden	garden	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 birds	compound
15	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 predation	nmod
16	by	by	ADP	_	18 cats	case
17	pet	pet	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 cats	compound
18	cats	cat	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 reducing	obl
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here			vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
2	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	recognise	present · passive				vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus
4	reduce	gerund		the predation of garden birds	by pet cats	vn limit-76 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer predation=Patient
5	predate			garden birds		nom predation «act transitive»: of=patient

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

Permitting the cat outdoors solely at dawn

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Permitting	permit	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 cat	det
3	cat	cat	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Permitting	obj
4	outdoors	outdoors	ADV	_	1 Permitting	advmod
5	solely	solely	ADV	_	1 Permitting	advmod
6	at	at	ADP	_	7 dawn	case
7	dawn	dawn	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Permitting	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	permit	gerund		the cat			dawn	outdoors, solely property	vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cat=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

Feeding the cat exclusively upon milk

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Feeding	feed	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 cat	det
3	cat	cat	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Feeding	obj
4	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	1 Feeding	advmod
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	6 milk	case
6	milk	milk	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Feeding	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	feed	gerund			the cat			upon milk; exclusively property	vn feeding-39.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cat=Recipient

Option 3

Painting the birds in bright colours

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Painting	paint	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 birds	det
3	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Painting	obj
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 colours	case
5	bright	bright	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 colours	amod
6	colours	colour	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Painting	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	paint	gerund		the birds		bright colours			vn image_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.theme PP.destination»: agent=Agent bird=Theme in colour=Destination

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Fitting a bell or brightly coloured collar cover

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Fitting	fit	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 bell	det
3	bell	bell	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Fitting	obj
4	or	or	CCONJ	_	8 cover	cc
5	brightly	brightly	ADV	_	6 coloured	advmod
6	coloured	coloured	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 cover	amod
7	collar	collar	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 cover	compound
8	cover	cover	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 bell	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fit	gerund		a bell or coloured collar cover					vn adjust-26.9 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bell=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.

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/e4/