Exam question 1 · Parrots: talkers, nutcrackers and long lives

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the vocal capacity of parrots?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: vocal capacity

This is exam question 1 of lesson 206 «Parrots: talkers, nutcrackers and long lives» 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 capacity	det
10	vocal	vocal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 capacity	amod
11	capacity	capacity	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 parrots	case
13	parrots	parrot	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 capacity	nmod
14	?	?	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 vocal capacity of parrots				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

Speech is produced by the teeth concealed within the beak

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Speech	speech	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 produced	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 produced	aux:pass
3	produced	produce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	SCONJ	_	7 concealed	mark
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 teeth	det
6	teeth	tooth	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 concealed	nsubj
7	concealed	conceal	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 produced	advcl
8	within	within	ADP	_	10 beak	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 beak	det
10	beak	beak	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 concealed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	produce	present · passive		Speech					vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: subject=Result
2	conceal	past	the teeth					within the beak	vn concealment-16 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Sounds are learned and reproduced by means of a chest voice organ and a specialised region of the brain

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Sounds	sound	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 learned	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 learned	aux:pass
3	learned	learn	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 means	nsubj
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 reproduced	cc
5	reproduced	reproduce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 learned	conj
6	by	by	ADP	_	5 reproduced	obl
7	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	of	of	ADP	_	12 organ	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 organ	det
10	chest	chest	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 voice	compound
11	voice	voice	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 organ	compound
12	organ	organ	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 means	obl
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 region	cc
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 region	det
15	specialised	specialis	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	16 region	amod
16	region	region	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 organ	conj
17	of	of	ADP	_	19 brain	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 brain	det
19	brain	brain	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 region	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	learn	present · passive	Sounds		vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic
2	reproduce	participle			vn birth-28.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	mean	present		of a voice organ and a specialised region of the brain	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
4	specialis	participle			tree rules

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Parrots are incapable of producing any learned sound

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Parrots	parrot	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 incapable	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 incapable	cop
3	incapable	incapable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	of	of	SCONJ	_	5 producing	mark
5	producing	produce	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 incapable	advcl
6	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	8 sound	det
7	learned	learn	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 sound	amod
8	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 producing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	present	Parrots		incapable property	tree rules
2	produce	gerund	Parrots not said here	any learned sound		vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sound=Result
3	learn	participle				vn learn-14-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4

Parrots are born possessed of a complete human vocabulary

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Parrots	parrot	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 born	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 born	aux:pass
3	born	bear	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	possessed	possess	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 born	xcomp
5	of	of	ADP	_	9 vocabulary	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 vocabulary	det
7	complete	complete	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 vocabulary	amod
8	human	human	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 vocabulary	amod
9	vocabulary	vocabulary	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 possessed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bear	present · passive		Parrots					tree rules
2	possess	participle						of a complete human vocabulary	vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot

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/206-parrots-talkers-nutcrackers-and-long-lives/e1/