Exam question 4 · Garden birds: robins, blackbirds, tits and feeders

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the formation known as a murmuration.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern, know · To what, where: response, formation

This is exam question 4 of lesson 216 «Garden birds: robins, blackbirds, tits and feeders» 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 formation	det
11	formation	formation	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	known	know	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 formation	acl
13	as	as	ADP	_	15 murmuration	case
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 murmuration	det
15	murmuration	murmuration	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 known	obl
16	.	.	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 formation		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus formation=Experiencer
4	know	participle		the formation not said here	as a murmuration	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer as murmuration=Attribute

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

A single leader directs every bird

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 leader	det
2	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 leader	amod
3	leader	leader	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 directs	nsubj
4	directs	direct	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	6 bird	det
6	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 directs	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	direct	present	a single leader	every bird					vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent bird=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Starlings flock in great numbers at dusk for safety, each bird responding to its nearest neighbours

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Starlings	starling	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 flock	nsubj
2	flock	flock	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	5 numbers	case
4	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 numbers	amod
5	numbers	number	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 flock	obl
6	at	at	ADP	_	7 dusk	case
7	dusk	dusk	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 flock	obl
8	for	for	ADP	_	9 safety	case
9	safety	safety	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 flock	obl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 bird	punct
11	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	12 bird	det
12	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 safety	conj
13	responding	respond	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	12 bird	acl
14	to	to	ADP	_	17 neighbours	case
15	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	17 neighbours	nmod:poss
16	nearest	near	ADJ	Degree=Sup	17 neighbours	amod
17	neighbours	neighbour	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 responding	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	flock	present	Starlings			great numbers	dusk	for safety and each bird	vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	respond speech: other	gerund	each bird not said here					to bird's nearest neighbours	vn respond-113 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to neighbour=Theme

Option 3

It is a song performed by robins in winter beneath the street lamps of towns and cities

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 song	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 song	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 song	det
4	song	song	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	performed	perform	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 song	acl
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 robins	case
7	robins	robin	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 performed	obl
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 winter	case
9	winter	winter	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 performed	obl
10	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	13 lamps	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 lamps	det
12	street	street	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 lamps	compound
13	lamps	lamp	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 performed	obl
14	of	of	ADP	_	15 towns	case
15	towns	town	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 lamps	nmod
16	and	and	CCONJ	_	17 cities	cc
17	cities	city	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 lamps	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a song					tree rules
2	perform	participle		a song not said here			winter	by robins; beneath the street lamps of towns and cities	vn performance-26.7 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4

It is composed exclusively of wrens, which gather at dusk in order to sing together loudly

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 composed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 composed	aux:pass
3	composed	compose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	3 composed	advmod
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 wrens	case
6	wrens	wren	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 composed	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 gather	punct
8	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 gather	nsubj
9	gather	gather	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 wrens	acl:relcl
10	at	at	ADP	_	11 dusk	case
11	dusk	dusk	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 gather	obl
12	in	in	ADP	_	13 order	case
13	order	order	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 gather	obl
14	to	to	PART	_	15 sing	mark
15	sing	sing	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 composed	advcl
16	together	together	ADV	_	15 sing	advmod
17	loudly	loudly	ADV	_	15 sing	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	compose	present · passive		It			of wrens; exclusively property	vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Result
2	gather	present	wrens		order	dusk		vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	sing speech: express	to-infinitive					loudly, together property	vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=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.

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