Exam question 1 · Pigeons: head bobbing, homing and city cliffs

Identify the principal reason for which the head of the pigeon appears to move rhythmically during locomotion.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, head · What happens: identify, appear, move · To what, where: principal reason

This is exam question 1 of lesson 221 «Pigeons: head bobbing, homing and city cliffs» 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	12 appears	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 head	det
8	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 appears	nsubj
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 pigeon	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 pigeon	det
11	pigeon	pigeon	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 head	nmod
12	appears	appear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl
13	to	to	PART	_	14 move	mark
14	move	move	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 appears	xcomp
15	rhythmically	rhythmically	ADV	_	14 move	advmod
16	during	during	ADP	_	17 locomotion	case
17	locomotion	locomotion	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 move	obl
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	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	appear	present	the head of the pigeon			for the principal reason	vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute
3	move	to-infinitive	the head of the pigeon not said here		during locomotion	rhythmically property	vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=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

The head is held stationary during each step, thereby stabilising the visual field

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 head	det
2	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 held	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 held	aux:pass
4	held	hold	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	stationary	stationary	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 held	obj
6	during	during	ADP	_	8 step	case
7	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	8 step	det
8	step	step	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 held	obl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 stabilising	punct
10	thereby	thereby	ADV	_	11 stabilising	advmod
11	stabilising	stabilise	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 held	advcl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 field	det
13	visual	visual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 field	amod
14	field	field	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 stabilising	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hold	present · passive		the head			during each step		vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V NP to be NP»: subject=Theme stationary=Eventuality
2	stabilise	gerund		the visual field				thereby property	tree rules

Option 2

The movement constitutes a response to audible rhythm

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 movement	det
2	movement	movement	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 constitutes	nsubj
3	constitutes	constitute	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 response	det
5	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 constitutes	obj
6	to	to	ADP	_	8 rhythm	case
7	audible	audible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 rhythm	amod
8	rhythm	rhythm	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 response	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	constitute	present	the movement	a response				to audible rhythm	vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme response=Pivot

Option 3

The movement results from a deficiency in the musculature of the neck, common to all pigeons

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 results	det
2	movement	movement	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 results	compound
3	results	result	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 common	nsubj
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 deficiency	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 deficiency	det
6	deficiency	deficiency	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 results	nmod
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 musculature	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 musculature	det
9	musculature	musculature	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 deficiency	nmod
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 neck	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 neck	det
12	neck	neck	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 musculature	nmod
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 common	punct
14	common	common	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
15	to	to	ADP	_	17 pigeons	case
16	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	17 pigeons	det
17	pigeons	pigeon	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 common	obl

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

Option 4

The head is propelled forward to assist the motion of the body

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 head	det
2	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 propelled	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 propelled	aux:pass
4	propelled	propel	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	forward	forward	ADV	_	4 propelled	advmod
6	to	to	PART	_	7 assist	mark
7	assist	assist	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 propelled	advcl
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 motion	det
9	motion	motion	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 assist	obj
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 body	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 body	det
12	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 motion	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	propel	present · passive		the head	forward property	tree rules
2	assist	to-infinitive		the motion of the body		vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent motion=Beneficiary
3	motion		the body			nom motion «communication intransitive»: of=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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