Exam question 2 · Foxes and squirrels

Identify the principal reason for which grey squirrels endanger the red squirrel in Britain.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, grey squirrels · What happens: identify, endanger · To what, where: principal reason, red squirrel, Britain

This is exam question 2 of lesson 215 «Foxes and squirrels» 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	9 endanger	obl
7	grey	grey	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 squirrels	amod
8	squirrels	squirrel	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 endanger	nsubj
9	endanger	endanger	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl:relcl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 squirrel	det
11	red	red	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 squirrel	amod
12	squirrel	squirrel	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 endanger	obj
13	in	in	ADP	_	14 Britain	case
14	Britain	Britain	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 endanger	obl
15	.	.	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	endanger	present	grey squirrels	the red squirrel		Britain		for the principal reason	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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Greys transmit a virus fatal to reds and compete for their food

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Greys	grey	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 transmit	nsubj
2	transmit	transmit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 virus	det
4	virus	virus	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 transmit	obj
5	fatal	fatal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 transmit	xcomp
6	to	to	ADP	_	7 reds	case
7	reds	red	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 fatal	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 compete	cc
9	compete	compete	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 transmit	conj
10	for	for	ADP	_	12 food	case
11	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 food	nmod:poss
12	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 compete	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	transmit	present	Greys	a virus				fatal property	vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent virus=Theme
2	compete	infinitive	Greys not said here					for Greys's food	vn battle-36.4 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

Greys occupy only the Scottish islands

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Greys	grey	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 occupy	nsubj
2	occupy	occupy	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	only	only	ADV	_	6 islands	advmod
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 islands	det
5	Scottish	Scottish	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 islands	amod
6	islands	island	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 occupy	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	occupy	present	Greys	the Scottish islands					vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP-PRO-ARB»: agent=Stimulus

Option 3

Greys prey upon red squirrels

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Greys	grey	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 prey	compound
2	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	upon	upon	ADP	_	5 squirrels	case
4	red	red	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 squirrels	amod
5	squirrels	squirrel	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 prey	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4

Greys interbreed with reds and render them grey

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Greys	grey	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 interbreed	nsubj
2	interbreed	interbreed	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	with	with	ADP	_	4 reds	case
4	reds	red	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 interbreed	obl
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 render	cc
6	render	render	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 interbreed	conj
7	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 render	obj
8	grey	grey	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 render	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	interbreed	present	Greys					with reds	tree rules
2	render	present	Greys not said here	Greys = grey				grey property	vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme

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/215-foxes-and-squirrels/e2/