Exam question 2 · Sheep and goats: wool, flocks, climbers and the tin-can myth

Identify the principal reason for which sheep maintain close proximity to one another within a flock.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, sheep · What happens: identify, maintain · To what, where: principal reason, close proximity, one

This is exam question 2 of lesson 211 «Sheep and goats: wool, flocks, climbers and the tin-can myth» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 maintain	obl
7	sheep	sheep	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 maintain	nsubj
8	maintain	maintain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl:relcl
9	close	close	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 proximity	amod
10	proximity	proximity	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 maintain	obj
11	to	to	ADP	_	12 one	case
12	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	8 maintain	obl
13	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	12 one	fixed
14	within	within	ADP	_	16 flock	case
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 flock	det
16	flock	flock	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 maintain	obl
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	maintain	present	sheep	close proximity	one			for the principal reason; within a flock	vn declare-29.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent proximity=Theme

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 · ✓ the right answer

Aggregation affords protection from predators

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Aggregation	aggregation	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 affords	nsubj
2	affords	afford	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	protection	protection	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 affords	obj
4	from	from	ADP	_	5 predators	case
5	predators	predator	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 affords	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	afford	present	Aggregation	protection		predators			tree rules

Option 2

The leading animal is invariably the mother of all

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 animal	det
2	leading	lead	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 animal	amod
3	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 mother	nsubj
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 mother	cop
5	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	7 mother	advmod
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 mother	det
7	mother	mother	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 all	case
9	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	7 mother	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lead	gerund							vn result-27.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Precondition
2	is a	present	the leading animal	the mother				of all; invariably property	tree rules

Option 3

Proximity is required for the digestion of grass

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Proximity	proximity	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 required	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 required	aux:pass
3	required	require	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	for	for	ADP	_	6 digestion	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 digestion	det
6	digestion	digestion	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 required	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 grass	case
8	grass	grass	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 digestion	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	require	present · passive		Proximity				for the digestion of grass	vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Precondition
2	digest			grass					nom digestion «process transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

Sheep are incapable of independent vision

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Sheep	sheep	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	ADP	_	6 vision	case
5	independent	independent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 vision	amod
6	vision	vision	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 incapable	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Sheep					of independent vision; incapable property	tree rules

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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