Exam question 2 · Animal minds: elephants' memory, feelings and the mouse myth
Identify the principal reason for which elephant herds led by elder matriarchs exhibited superior survival during a drought in Tanzania.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, elephant herds · What happens: identify, lead, exhibit · To what, where: principal reason, elephant herds, superior survival
This is exam question 2 of lesson 236 «Animal minds: elephants' memory, feelings and the mouse myth» 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 | Identify | identify | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 reason | det |
| 3 | principal | principal | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 reason | amod |
| 4 | reason | reason | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Identify | obj |
| 5 | for | for | ADP | _ | 6 which | case |
| 6 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 13 exhibited | obl |
| 7 | elephant | elephant | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 herds | compound |
| 8 | herds | herd | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 exhibited | nsubj |
| 9 | led | lead | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 8 herds | acl |
| 10 | by | by | ADP | _ | 12 matriarchs | case |
| 11 | elder | eld | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 12 matriarchs | amod |
| 12 | matriarchs | matriarch | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 led | obl |
| 13 | exhibited | exhibit | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 reason | acl:relcl |
| 14 | superior | superior | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 15 survival | amod |
| 15 | survival | survival | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 exhibited | obj |
| 16 | during | during | ADP | _ | 18 drought | case |
| 17 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 18 drought | det |
| 18 | drought | drought | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 exhibited | obl |
| 19 | in | in | ADP | _ | 20 Tanzania | case |
| 20 | Tanzania | Tanzania | PROPN | Number=Sing | 18 drought | nmod |
| 21 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 Identify | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | identify | imperative | you not said here | the principal reason | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme | ||||
| 2 | lead | participle | elephant herds not said here | by elder matriarchs | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent by matriarch=Destination | ||||
| 3 | exhibit | past | elephant herds | superior survival | during a drought in Tanzania | for the principal reason | vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent survival=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 · ← Mova's choice
The elder matriarchs required less water
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 matriarchs | det |
| 2 | elder | elder | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 matriarchs | amod |
| 3 | matriarchs | matriarch | NOUN | Number=Plur | root | root |
| 4 | required | require | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 matriarchs | acl |
| 5 | less | less | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 6 water | amod |
| 6 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 required | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | require | participle | the elder matriarchs not said here | less water | vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme water=Precondition |
Option 2
The herds were provisioned with water and food by human beings throughout the drought
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 herds | det |
| 2 | herds | herd | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 provisioned | nsubj |
| 3 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 provisioned | aux:pass |
| 4 | provisioned | provision | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | with | with | ADP | _ | 6 water | case |
| 6 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 provisioned | obl |
| 7 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 8 food | cc |
| 8 | food | food | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 water | conj |
| 9 | by | by | ADP | _ | 11 beings | case |
| 10 | human | human | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 11 beings | amod |
| 11 | beings | being | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 provisioned | obl |
| 12 | throughout | throughout | ADP | _ | 14 drought | case |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 drought | det |
| 14 | drought | drought | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 provisioned | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | provision | past · passive | human beings | the herds | throughout the drought | with water and food | tree rules |
Option 3
The herds were of greater size
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 herds | det |
| 2 | herds | herd | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 size | nsubj |
| 3 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 size | cop |
| 4 | of | of | ADP | _ | 6 size | case |
| 5 | greater | great | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 6 size | amod |
| 6 | size | size | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | the herds | of greater size | tree rules |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
The matriarchs retained a memory of an earlier drought and of sources of water
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 matriarchs | det |
| 2 | matriarchs | matriarch | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 retained | nsubj |
| 3 | retained | retain | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 memory | det |
| 5 | memory | memory | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 retained | obj |
| 6 | of | of | ADP | _ | 9 drought | case |
| 7 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 9 drought | det |
| 8 | earlier | early | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 9 drought | amod |
| 9 | drought | drought | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 memory | nmod |
| 10 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 12 sources | cc |
| 11 | of | of | ADP | _ | 12 sources | case |
| 12 | sources | source | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 drought | conj |
| 13 | of | of | ADP | _ | 14 water | case |
| 14 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 sources | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | retain | past | the matriarchs | a memory of a earlier drought and sources of water | tree rules |
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/236-animal-minds-elephants-memory-feelings-and-the-mouse-myth/e2/