Exam question 3 · Leopards, jaguars, cheetahs and the house cat

Ascertain the reason for which the leopard conveys its prey into the branches of trees.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, leopard · What happens: ascertain, convey · To what, where: reason, prey, branches

This is exam question 3 of lesson 20 «Leopards, jaguars, cheetahs and the house cat» 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	3 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 conveys	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 leopard	det
7	leopard	leopard	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 conveys	nsubj
8	conveys	convey	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 reason	acl
9	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 prey	nmod:poss
10	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 conveys	obj
11	into	into	ADP	_	13 branches	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 branches	det
13	branches	branch	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 conveys	obl
14	of	of	ADP	_	15 trees	case
15	trees	tree	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 branches	nmod
16	.	.	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 reason					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	convey	present	the leopard	leopard's prey		the branches of trees		for the reason	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent prey=Topic

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

To permit the carcass to be dried by the wind

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 permit	mark
2	permit	permit	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 carcass	det
4	carcass	carcass	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 permit	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	7 dried	mark
6	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	7 dried	aux:pass
7	dried	dry	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 carcass	acl
8	by	by	ADP	_	10 wind	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 wind	det
10	wind	wind	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 dried	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	permit	to-infinitive		the carcass					vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent carcass=Theme
2	dry	to-infinitive · passive	the wind	the carcass not said here					vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

To prevent the theft of the carcass by lions and hyenas

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 prevent	mark
2	prevent	prevent	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 theft	det
4	theft	theft	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 prevent	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 carcass	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 carcass	det
7	carcass	carcass	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 theft	nmod
8	by	by	ADP	_	9 lions	case
9	lions	lion	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 prevent	obl
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 hyenas	cc
11	hyenas	hyena	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 lions	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prevent	to-infinitive		the theft of the carcass				by lions and hyenas	vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer theft=Theme

Option 3

To attract other leopards so that they may share in the meal

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 attract	mark
2	attract	attract	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 leopards	amod
4	leopards	leopard	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 attract	obj
5	so	so	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	9 share	mark
6	that	that	SCONJ	_	5 so	fixed
7	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 share	nsubj
8	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	9 share	aux
9	share	share	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 attract	advcl
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 meal	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 meal	det
12	meal	meal	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 share	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	attract	to-infinitive		other leopards					vn lure-59.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leopard=Patient
2	share	may	leopards = leopard			the meal			tree rules

Option 4

To conceal the carcass from rainfall

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 conceal	mark
2	conceal	conceal	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 carcass	det
4	carcass	carcass	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 conceal	obj
5	from	from	ADP	_	6 rainfall	case
6	rainfall	rainfall	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 conceal	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	conceal	to-infinitive		the carcass		rainfall			vn concealment-16 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent carcass=Patient from rainfall=Beneficiary

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.

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