Exam question 2 · Team players and partners: meerkats, naked mole rats, hudd…

Identify the principal reason for which emperor penguins assemble in dense huddles during the Antarctic winter.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, emperor penguins · What happens: identify, assemble · To what, where: principal reason, dense huddles

This is exam question 2 of lesson 241 «Team players and partners: meerkats, naked mole rats, huddles, cleaners (and do lemmings jump?)» 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	9 assemble	obl
7	emperor	emperor	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 penguins	compound
8	penguins	penguin	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 assemble	nsubj
9	assemble	assemble	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl:relcl
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 huddles	case
11	dense	dense	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 huddles	amod
12	huddles	huddle	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 assemble	obl
13	during	during	ADP	_	16 winter	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 winter	det
15	Antarctic	Antarctic	PROPN	Number=Sing	16 winter	compound
16	winter	winter	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 assemble	obl
17	.	.	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	assemble	present	emperor penguins			dense huddles	winter	for the principal reason	vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent

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

The concealment of the eggs from hungry seals and from the mothers

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 concealment	det
2	concealment	concealment	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 eggs	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 eggs	det
5	eggs	egg	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 concealment	nmod
6	from	from	ADP	_	8 seals	case
7	hungry	hungry	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 seals	amod
8	seals	seal	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 eggs	nmod
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 mothers	cc
10	from	from	ADP	_	12 mothers	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 mothers	det
12	mothers	mother	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 seals	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	conceal			the eggs from hungry seals and the mothers					nom concealment «state transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

The selection of a leader for the colony

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 selection	det
2	selection	selection	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 leader	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 leader	det
5	leader	leader	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 selection	nmod
6	for	for	ADP	_	8 colony	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 colony	det
8	colony	colony	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 selection	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	select			a leader				for the colony	nom selection «act transitive»: of=patient for=obl

Option 3

The facilitation of feeding upon fish beneath the ice

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 facilitation	det
2	facilitation	facilitation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 feeding	case
4	feeding	feeding	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 facilitation	nmod
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	6 fish	case
6	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 facilitation	nmod
7	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	9 ice	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 ice	det
9	ice	ice	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 facilitation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	facilitate			feeding				upon fish; beneath the ice	nom facilitation «state transitive»: of=patient upon=obl beneath=obl

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The conservation of warmth, each bird taking its turn at the exposed margin

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 conservation	det
2	conservation	conservation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 warmth	case
4	warmth	warmth	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 conservation	nmod
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 bird	punct
6	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	7 bird	det
7	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 conservation	conj
8	taking	take	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 bird	acl
9	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 turn	nmod:poss
10	turn	turn	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 taking	obj
11	at	at	ADP	_	14 margin	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 margin	det
13	exposed	expose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 margin	amod
14	margin	margin	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 taking	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	take	gerund	each bird not said here	bird's turn	the exposed margin	vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent turn=Theme at margin=Asset
2	expose	participle				vn indicate-78 «NP V how S»: agent=Pivot
3	conserve			warmth		nom conservation «event 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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