Exam question 4 · Parrots: talkers, nutcrackers and long lives

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the consumption of clay by wild macaws.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern, consume · To what, where: response, consumption, clay

This is exam question 4 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 consumption	det
11	consumption	consumption	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 clay	case
13	clay	clay	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 consumption	nmod
14	by	by	ADP	_	16 macaws	case
15	wild	wild	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 macaws	amod
16	macaws	macaw	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 concerning	obl
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the consumption of clay	by wild macaws	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus consumption=Experiencer
4	consume			clay		nom consumption «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

Clay is mistaken by the birds for fruit

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Clay	clay	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 mistaken	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 mistaken	aux:pass
3	mistaken	mistake	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 birds	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 birds	det
6	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 mistaken	obl:agent
7	for	for	ADP	_	8 fruit	case
8	fruit	fruit	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 mistaken	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mistake	present · passive	the birds	Clay				for fruit	tree rules

Option 2

Clay is consumed solely to sharpen the beak

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Clay	clay	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 consumed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 consumed	aux:pass
3	consumed	consume	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	solely	solely	ADV	_	3 consumed	advmod
5	to	to	PART	_	6 sharpen	mark
6	sharpen	sharpen	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 consumed	advcl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 beak	det
8	beak	beak	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 sharpen	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	consume	present · passive		Clay				solely property	vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: subject=Asset
2	sharpen	to-infinitive		the beak					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent beak=Patient

Option 3

Macaws do not consume clay under any circumstances

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Macaws	macaw	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consume	nsubj
2	do	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 consume	aux
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 consume	advmod
4	consume	consume	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	clay	clay	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 consume	obj
6	under	under	ADP	_	8 circumstances	case
7	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	8 circumstances	det
8	circumstances	circumstance	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consume	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not consume	present · do-support	Macaws	clay		any circumstances			vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent clay=Asset

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Clay may supply salt and counteract harsh chemicals in certain seeds

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Clay	clay	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 supply	nsubj
2	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 supply	aux
3	supply	supply	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	salt	salt	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 supply	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 counteract	cc
6	counteract	counteract	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 supply	conj
7	harsh	harsh	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 chemicals	amod
8	chemicals	chemical	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 counteract	obj
9	in	in	ADP	_	11 seeds	case
10	certain	certain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 seeds	amod
11	seeds	seed	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 counteract	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	supply	may	Clay	salt					vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent salt=Recipient
2	counteract	infinitive	Clay not said here	harsh chemicals		certain seeds			vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent chemical=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.

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