Exam question 1 · Spiders and other minibeasts under logs and stones

Identify the means by which a spider situated at the margin of its web detects the capture of prey.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, the, spider · What happens: identify, mean, situate, detect, capture · To what, where: spider, margin, capture, prey

This is exam question 1 of lesson 220 «Spiders and other minibeasts under logs and stones» 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	3 means	nsubj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Identify	ccomp
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	15 detects	obl
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 spider	det
7	spider	spider	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 detects	nsubj
8	situated	situate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 spider	acl
9	at	at	ADP	_	11 margin	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 margin	det
11	margin	margin	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 situated	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 web	case
13	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 web	nmod:poss
14	web	web	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 margin	nmod
15	detects	detect	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 means	parataxis
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 capture	det
17	capture	capture	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 detects	obj
18	of	of	ADP	_	19 prey	case
19	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 capture	nmod
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	mean	present	the			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
3	situate	participle		a spider not said here	the margin of spider's web	vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent at margin=Destination
4	detect	present	a spider	the capture of prey		vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer capture=Stimulus
5	capture			prey		nom capture «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 · ✓ the right answer

It perceives the vibration transmitted along the threads

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	2 perceives	nsubj
2	perceives	perceive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 vibration	det
4	vibration	vibration	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 perceives	obj
5	transmitted	transmit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 vibration	acl
6	along	along	ADP	_	8 threads	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 threads	det
8	threads	thread	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 transmitted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	perceive	present	It	the vibration					vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer vibration=Stimulus
2	transmit	participle		the vibration not said here				along the threads	vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

It observes the web with eyes situated upon its dorsal surface

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	2 observes	nsubj
2	observes	observe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 web	det
4	web	web	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 observes	obj
5	with	with	ADP	_	6 eyes	case
6	eyes	eye	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 observes	obl
7	situated	situate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 eyes	acl
8	upon	upon	ADP	_	11 surface	case
9	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 surface	nmod:poss
10	dorsal	dorsal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 surface	amod
11	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 situated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	observe	present	It	the web				with eyes	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent web=Topic
2	situate	participle		eyes not said here		web's dorsal surface			vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent upon surface=Destination

Option 3

It detects the odour of the prey at a considerable distance

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	2 detects	nsubj
2	detects	detect	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 odour	det
4	odour	odour	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 detects	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 prey	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 prey	det
7	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 odour	nmod
8	at	at	ADP	_	11 distance	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 distance	det
10	considerable	considerable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 distance	amod
11	distance	distance	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 detects	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	detect	present	It	the odour of the prey				at a considerable distance	vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer odour=Stimulus

Option 4

It hears the vocalisations of the captured insect

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	2 hears	nsubj
2	hears	hear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 vocalisations	det
4	vocalisations	vocalisation	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 hears	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 insect	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 insect	det
7	captured	capture	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 insect	amod
8	insect	insect	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 vocalisations	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	hear	present	It	the vocalisations of the captured insect	vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer vocalisation=Stimulus
2	capture	participle			vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	vocalise			the captured insect	nom vocalisation «communication transitive»: of=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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