Exam question 3 · Gulls: chip thieves, rain dances and salty water

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the stamping of the feet by gulls upon grass.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern · To what, where: response, stamping

This is exam question 3 of lesson 223 «Gulls: chip thieves, rain dances and salty water» 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 stamping	det
11	stamping	stamping	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 feet	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 feet	det
14	feet	foot	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 stamping	nmod
15	by	by	ADP	_	16 gulls	case
16	gulls	gull	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 concerning	obl
17	upon	upon	ADP	_	18 grass	case
18	grass	grass	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 gulls	nmod
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the stamping of the feet	by gulls upon grass	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus stamping=Experiencer

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 action constitutes a courtship display only

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 action	det
2	action	action	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	6 display	det
5	courtship	courtship	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 display	compound
6	display	display	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 constitutes	obj
7	only	only	ADV	_	3 constitutes	advmod

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

Option 2

The action serves to warm the feet in cold weather

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 action	det
2	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 serves	nsubj
3	serves	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 warm	mark
5	warm	warm	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 serves	xcomp
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 feet	det
7	feet	foot	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 warm	obj
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 weather	case
9	cold	cold	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 weather	amod
10	weather	weather	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 warm	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	serve	present	the action						tree rules
2	warm	to-infinitive	the action not said here	the feet		cold weather			vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent foot=Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The vibration imitates rainfall and causes worms to emerge

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 vibration	det
2	vibration	vibration	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 imitates	nsubj
3	imitates	imitate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	rainfall	rainfall	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 imitates	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 causes	cc
6	causes	cause	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 imitates	conj
7	worms	worm	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 causes	obj
8	to	to	PART	_	9 emerge	mark
9	emerge	emerge	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 causes	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	imitate	present	the vibration	rainfall	vn patent-101 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rainfall=Theme
2	cause	present	the vibration not said here	worms	tree rules
3	emerge	to-infinitive	worms not said here		vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

The action is intended to flatten vegetation for the purpose of nesting

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 action	det
2	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 intended	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 intended	aux:pass
4	intended	intend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 flatten	mark
6	flatten	flatten	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 intended	xcomp
7	vegetation	vegetation	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 flatten	obj
8	for	for	ADP	_	10 purpose	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 purpose	det
10	purpose	purpose	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 flatten	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 nesting	case
12	nesting	nesting	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 purpose	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	intend	present · passive		the action		tree rules
2	flatten not said to happen	to-infinitive		vegetation	for the purpose of nesting	vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent vegetation=Patient
3	purpose		nesting			nom purpose «cognition 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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