Exam question 1 · Echolocation: how bats see with sound

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the method by which an insectivorous bat locates its prey in darkness?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: insectivorous bat · What happens: follow, characteris, locate · To what, where: method, prey, darkness

This is exam question 1 of lesson 229 «Echolocation: how bats see with sound» 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 method	det
10	method	method	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	by	by	ADP	_	12 which	case
12	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	16 locates	obl
13	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 bat	det
14	insectivorous	insectivorous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 bat	amod
15	bat	bat	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 locates	nsubj
16	locates	locate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 method	acl:relcl
17	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	18 prey	nmod:poss
18	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 locates	obj
19	in	in	ADP	_	20 darkness	case
20	darkness	darkness	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 locates	obl
21	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund					vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the method		of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	locate	present	a insectivorous bat	bat's prey	darkness	by the method	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

It relies solely upon the perception of light

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 relies	nsubj
2	relies	rely	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	solely	solely	ADV	_	2 relies	advmod
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	6 perception	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 perception	det
6	perception	perception	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 relies	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 light	case
8	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 perception	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rely	present	It					upon the perception of light; solely property	vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S_ING»: agent=Agent
2	perceive			light					nom perception «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

It is guided by the scent of nectar

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 guided	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 guided	aux:pass
3	guided	guide	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 scent	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 scent	det
6	scent	scent	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 guided	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 nectar	case
8	nectar	nectar	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 scent	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	guide	present · passive	the scent of nectar	It					vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme
2	scent			nectar					nom scent «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

It detects the warmth of its prey by means of sensitive organs situated in its wings

The tree, 16 words

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 warmth	det
4	warmth	warmth	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 detects	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 prey	case
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 prey	nmod:poss
7	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 warmth	nmod
8	by	by	ADP	_	9 means	case
9	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 detects	parataxis
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 organs	case
11	sensitive	sensitive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 organs	amod
12	organs	organ	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 means	obl
13	situated	situate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 organs	acl
14	in	in	ADP	_	16 wings	case
15	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	16 wings	nmod:poss
16	wings	wing	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 situated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	detect	present	It	the warmth of warmth's prey			vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer warmth=Stimulus
2	mean	present				of sensitive organs	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
3	situate	participle		sensitive organs not said here	warmth's wings		vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in wing=Destination

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It emits calls of high frequency and interprets the returning echoes

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 emits	nsubj
2	emits	emit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	calls	call	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 emits	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 frequency	case
5	high	high	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 frequency	amod
6	frequency	frequency	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 calls	nmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 interprets	cc
8	interprets	interpret	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 emits	conj
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 echoes	det
10	returning	returning	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 echoes	compound
11	echoes	echo	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 interprets	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	emit	present	It	calls of high frequency	vn substance_emission-43.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Source call=Theme
2	interpret	present		the returning echoes	vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent echo=Theme
3	call			high frequency	nom call «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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