Exam question 4 · Pigeons: head bobbing, homing and city cliffs

Ascertain the reason for which the young of the pigeon are seldom observed by the public.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, public · What happens: ascertain, observe · To what, where: reason, young

This is exam question 4 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	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	13 observed	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 young	det
7	young	young	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 observed	nsubj:pass
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 pigeon	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 pigeon	det
10	pigeon	pigeon	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 young	nmod
11	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 observed	aux:pass
12	seldom	seldom	ADV	_	13 observed	advmod
13	observed	observe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 reason	acl:relcl
14	by	by	ADP	_	16 public	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 public	det
16	public	public	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 observed	obl
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	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	the public	the young of the pigeon				for the reason; seldom property	vn investigate-35.4 «NP V NP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent subject=Location for which=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 · ✓ the right answer

The young remain concealed within the nest until nearly fully grown

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 young	det
2	young	young	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 concealed	nsubj:pass
3	remain	remain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 concealed	aux
4	concealed	conceal	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	within	within	ADP	_	7 nest	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 nest	det
7	nest	nest	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 concealed	obl
8	until	until	SCONJ	_	11 grown	mark
9	nearly	nearly	ADV	_	11 grown	advmod
10	fully	fully	ADV	_	11 grown	advmod
11	grown	grow	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 concealed	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	conceal	present · passive		the young				within the nest	vn concealment-16 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient
2	grow	participle						fully, nearly property	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

The young are reared exclusively beneath the ground

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 young	det
2	young	young	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 reared	nsubj:pass
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reared	aux:pass
4	reared	rear	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	4 reared	advmod
6	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	8 ground	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 ground	det
8	ground	ground	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 reared	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rear	present · passive		the young				beneath the ground; exclusively property	vn rear-26.2.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient

Option 3

The young are hatched in a fully adult condition

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 young	det
2	young	young	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 hatched	nsubj:pass
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 hatched	aux:pass
4	hatched	hatch	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	9 condition	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 condition	det
7	fully	fully	ADV	_	8 adult	advmod
8	adult	adult	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 condition	amod
9	condition	condition	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 hatched	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hatch	present · passive		the young		a adult condition			vn grow-26.2.1 «NP V NP.product PP.patient»: subject=Product

Option 4

The young are removed at hatching by human keepers and reared in lofts

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 young	det
2	young	young	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 removed	nsubj:pass
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 removed	aux:pass
4	removed	remove	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	at	at	ADP	_	6 hatching	case
6	hatching	hatching	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 removed	obl
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 keepers	case
8	human	human	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 keepers	amod
9	keepers	keeper	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 removed	obl
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 reared	cc
11	reared	rear	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 removed	conj
12	in	in	ADP	_	13 lofts	case
13	lofts	loft	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 reared	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	remove	present · passive	human keepers	the young		hatching			vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme
2	rear	participle	human keepers not said here			lofts			vn rear-26.2.2 «NP V NP»: 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/e4/