Exam question 2 · Pigeons: head bobbing, homing and city cliffs

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the ancestry of the urban pigeon?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: ancestry

This is exam question 2 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 ancestry	det
10	ancestry	ancestry	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 pigeon	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 pigeon	det
13	urban	urban	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 pigeon	amod
14	pigeon	pigeon	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 ancestry	nmod
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the ancestry of the urban pigeon				of the following statements; accurately property	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

It is descended from the wood pigeon of deciduous forests

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 descended	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 descended	aux:pass
3	descended	descend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	7 pigeon	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 pigeon	det
6	wood	wood	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 pigeon	compound
7	pigeon	pigeon	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 descended	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 forests	case
9	deciduous	deciduous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 forests	amod
10	forests	forest	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 pigeon	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	descend	present · passive		It		the wood pigeon of deciduous forests			vn meander-47.7-1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 2

It is descended from gulls domesticated in harbours

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 descended	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 descended	aux:pass
3	descended	descend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	5 gulls	case
5	gulls	gull	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 descended	obl
6	domesticated	domesticate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 gulls	acl
7	in	in	ADP	_	8 harbours	case
8	harbours	harbour	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 domesticated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	descend	present · passive		It		gulls			vn meander-47.7-1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme
2	domesticate	participle		gulls not said here		harbours			vn remedy-45.7-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient

Option 3

It is a species which originated within cities and has no wild ancestor

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 species	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 species	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 species	det
4	species	species	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 originated	nsubj
6	originated	originate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 species	acl:relcl
7	within	within	ADP	_	8 cities	case
8	cities	city	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 originated	obl
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 has	cc
10	has	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 originated	conj
11	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	13 ancestor	det
12	wild	wild	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 ancestor	amod
13	ancestor	ancestor	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 has	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a species		tree rules
2	originate	past	a species		within cities	vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	have	present	a species not said here	no wild ancestor		vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ancestor=Patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It is descended from the rock dove, a species nesting upon sea cliffs

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 descended	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 descended	aux:pass
3	descended	descend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	7 dove	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 dove	det
6	rock	rock	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 dove	compound
7	dove	dove	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 descended	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 species	punct
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 species	det
10	species	species	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 dove	conj
11	nesting	nest	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 species	acl
12	upon	upon	ADP	_	14 cliffs	case
13	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 cliffs	compound
14	cliffs	cliff	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 nesting	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	descend	present · passive		It		the rock dove and a species			vn meander-47.7-1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme
2	nest	gerund	a species not said here					upon sea cliffs	vn berry-13.7 «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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/221-pigeons-head-bobbing-homing-and-city-cliffs/e2/