Exam question 3 · Wolves and teamwork: family packs, the alpha myth and hunt…

Ascertain the principal advantage obtained by geese flying in a V formation.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, geese · What happens: ascertain, obtain, fly · To what, where: principal advantage, V formation

This is exam question 3 of lesson 240 «Wolves and teamwork: family packs, the alpha myth and hunting together» 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	4 advantage	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 advantage	amod
4	advantage	advantage	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	obtained	obtain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 advantage	acl
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 geese	case
7	geese	goose	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 obtained	obl
8	flying	fly	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 geese	acl
9	in	in	ADP	_	12 formation	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 formation	det
11	V	v	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 formation	compound
12	formation	formation	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 flying	obl
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the principal advantage			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent advantage=Topic
2	obtain	participle		the principal advantage not said here		by geese	vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset
3	fly	gerund	geese not said here		a V formation		vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in formation=Location

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

Intimidation of birds of prey, the formation resembling a single bird of very great size

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Intimidation	intimidation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	of	of	ADP	_	3 birds	case
3	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Intimidation	nmod
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 prey	case
5	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 birds	nmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 formation	punct
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 formation	det
8	formation	formation	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Intimidation	conj
9	resembling	resemble	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 formation	acl
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 bird	det
11	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 bird	amod
12	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 resembling	obj
13	of	of	ADP	_	16 size	case
14	very	very	ADV	_	15 great	advmod
15	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 size	amod
16	size	size	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 bird	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	resemble	gerund	the formation not said here	a single bird of great size					tree rules
2	intimidate			birds of prey					nom intimidation «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

A reduction in the energy expended, each bird being lifted by the air from the bird in front

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 reduction	det
2	reduction	reduction	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 expended	nsubj
3	in	in	ADP	_	5 energy	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 energy	det
5	energy	energy	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reduction	nmod
6	expended	expend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 lifted	punct
8	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	9 bird	det
9	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 lifted	nsubj:pass
10	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	11 lifted	aux:pass
11	lifted	lift	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 expended	conj
12	by	by	ADP	_	14 air	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 air	det
14	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 lifted	obl
15	from	from	ADP	_	17 bird	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 bird	det
17	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 lifted	obl
18	in	in	ADP	_	19 front	case
19	front	front	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 lifted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	expend	past	a reduction in the energy						tree rules
2	lift	gerund · passive	the air	each bird		front		from the bird	vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.initial_location PP.destination»: agent=Agent subject=Theme from bird=Destination in front=Initial_Location

Option 3

Protection of the leading bird from cold

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Protection	protection	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 bird	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 bird	det
4	leading	lead	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 bird	amod
5	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Protection	nmod
6	from	from	ADP	_	7 cold	case
7	cold	cold	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 bird	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lead	gerund							vn result-27.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Precondition
2	protect			the leading bird from cold					nom protection «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

Improved observation of the ground

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Improved	improve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 observation	amod
2	observation	observation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 ground	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 ground	det
5	ground	ground	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 observation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	improve	participle							vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
2	observe			the ground					nom observation «act 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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/240-wolves-and-teamwork-family-packs-the-alpha-myth-and-hunting-together/e3/