Test 6 · ★★ · Echolocation: how bats see with sound

«why'd it take 150 years to figure out the bat thing» What is the best answer?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: best answer · What happens: take, figure out, be · To what, where: it, bat thing · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 6 · ★★ of lesson 229 «Echolocation: how bats see with sound» of the biology course of Mova's primary school. 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	«	«	PUNCT	_	5 take	punct
2	why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	5 take	advmod
3	'd	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 take	aux
4	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 take	expl
5	take	take	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	15 What	parataxis
6	150	150	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	7 years	nummod
7	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 take	obj
8	to	to	PART	_	9 figure	mark
9	figure	figure	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 take	advcl
10	out	out	ADP	_	9 figure	compound:prt
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 thing	det
12	bat	bat	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 thing	compound
13	thing	thing	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 figure	obj
14	»	»	PUNCT	_	5 take	punct
15	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	root	root
16	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 What	cop
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 answer	det
18	best	good	ADJ	Degree=Sup	19 answer	amod
19	answer	answer	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 What	nsubj
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	15 What	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	take in a quote	would		it	year	vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	figure out in a quote	to-infinitive		the bat thing		vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Topic
3	is a	present	the best answer			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

Scientists did not care about bats

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Scientists	scientist	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 care	nsubj
2	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 care	aux
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 care	advmod
4	care	care	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	about	about	ADP	_	6 bats	case
6	bats	bat	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 care	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not care	past · do-support	Scientists					about bats	vn care-88.1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus what S»: agent=Experiencer about bat=Stimulus

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Nobody could hear the sound until special microphones came in 1938

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	3 hear	nsubj
2	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 hear	aux
3	hear	hear	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 sound	det
5	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 hear	obj
6	until	until	SCONJ	_	9 came	mark
7	special	special	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 microphones	amod
8	microphones	microphone	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 came	nsubj
9	came	come	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 hear	advcl
10	in	in	ADP	_	11 1938	case
11	1938	1938	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	9 came	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hear	could	Nobody	the sound					vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer sound=Stimulus
2	come	past	special microphones			1938			vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in 1938=Location

Option 3

Bats hid from scientists

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Bats	bat	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 hid	nsubj
2	hid	hide	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	4 scientists	case
4	scientists	scientist	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 hid	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hide	past	Bats			scientists			vn concealment-16-1 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent from scientist=Beneficiary

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

Bats only started using their echoes in 1938, so before that there was nothing to hear

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Bats	bat	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 started	nsubj
2	only	only	ADV	_	3 started	advmod
3	started	start	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	using	use	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 started	xcomp
5	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 echoes	nmod:poss
6	echoes	echo	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 using	obj
7	in	in	ADP	_	8 1938	case
8	1938	1938	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	4 using	obl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 nothing	punct
10	so	so	ADV	_	15 nothing	advmod
11	before	before	SCONJ	_	14 was	mark
12	that	that	SCONJ	_	14 was	mark
13	there	there	PRON	PronType=Dem	14 was	expl
14	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	15 nothing	cop
15	nothing	nothing	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	3 started	parataxis
16	to	to	PART	_	17 hear	mark
17	hear	hear	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	15 nothing	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	start	past	Bats			vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
2	use	gerund	Bats not said here	Bats's echoes	1938	vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent echo=Patient
3	is a	past		nothing		tree rules
4	hear	to-infinitive	Bats not said here			vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer

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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