Exam question 4 · Butterflies, moths and ladybirds

Ascertain the reason for which a butterfly is observed to rest with its wings extended in direct sunlight.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, observe, rest, extend · To what, where: reason, butterfly, wings, direct sunlight

This is exam question 4 of lesson 219 «Butterflies, moths and ladybirds» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 observed	obl
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 butterfly	det
7	butterfly	butterfly	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 observed	nsubj:pass
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 observed	aux:pass
9	observed	observe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 reason	acl:relcl
10	to	to	PART	_	11 rest	mark
11	rest	rest	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 observed	xcomp
12	with	with	ADP	_	14 wings	case
13	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 wings	nmod:poss
14	wings	wing	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 rest	obl
15	extended	extend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 wings	acl
16	in	in	ADP	_	18 sunlight	case
17	direct	direct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 sunlight	amod
18	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 extended	obl
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	observe	present · passive		a butterfly		for the reason	tree rules
3	rest	to-infinitive				with butterfly's wings	vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
4	extend	participle		butterfly's wings not said here	direct sunlight		vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in sunlight=Location

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 insect is displaying its colours to human observers in the garden

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 insect	det
2	insect	insect	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 displaying	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 displaying	aux
4	displaying	display	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 colours	nmod:poss
6	colours	colour	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 displaying	obj
7	to	to	ADP	_	9 observers	case
8	human	human	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 observers	amod
9	observers	observer	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 displaying	obl
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 garden	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 garden	det
12	garden	garden	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 observers	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	display	present · progressive	the insect	insect's colours	human observers in the garden				vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent colour=Theme to observer=Recipient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The insect must attain a sufficient body temperature before flight

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 insect	det
2	insect	insect	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 attain	nsubj
3	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 attain	aux
4	attain	attain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 temperature	det
6	sufficient	sufficient	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 temperature	amod
7	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 temperature	compound
8	temperature	temperature	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 attain	obj
9	before	before	ADP	_	10 flight	case
10	flight	flight	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 attain	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	attain	must	the insect	a sufficient body temperature			before flight		vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent temperature=Theme

Option 3

The insect is engaged in the drying of freshly consumed nectar

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 insect	det
2	insect	insect	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 engaged	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 engaged	aux:pass
4	engaged	engage	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 drying	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 drying	det
7	drying	drying	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 engaged	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	11 nectar	case
9	freshly	freshly	ADV	_	10 consumed	advmod
10	consumed	consume	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 nectar	amod
11	nectar	nectar	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 drying	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	engage	present · passive		the insect				in the drying of consumed nectar goal	vn involve-107.1 «NP V NP PP.goal»: subject=Theme in drying=Goal
2	consume	participle						freshly property	vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 4

The insect is depriving competing plants of sunlight

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 insect	det
2	insect	insect	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 depriving	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 depriving	aux
4	depriving	deprive	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	competing	compete	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 plants	amod
6	plants	plant	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 depriving	obj
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 sunlight	case
8	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 plants	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	deprive	present · progressive	the insect	competing plants of sunlight					vn deprive-10.6.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent plant=Source
2	compete	gerund							vn battle-36.4 «NP V»: agent=Agent

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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