Exam question 2 · Animal builders: termite mounds, weaver birds and other ne…

Identify the principal reason for which magnetic termites align their mounds upon a north-south axis.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, magnetic termites · What happens: identify, align · To what, where: principal reason, mounds

This is exam question 2 of lesson 243 «Animal builders: termite mounds, weaver birds and other nest makers» 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 align	obl
7	magnetic	magnetic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 termites	amod
8	termites	termite	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 align	nsubj
9	align	align	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl:relcl
10	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 mounds	nmod:poss
11	mounds	mound	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 align	obj
12	upon	upon	ADP	_	17 axis	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 axis	det
14	north	north	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 south	compound
15	-	-	PUNCT	_	14 north	punct
16	south	South	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 axis	amod
17	axis	axis	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 align	obl
18	.	.	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	align	present	magnetic termites	termites's mounds				for the principal reason; upon a south axis	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 · ← Mova's choice

The facilitation of navigation by foraging workers

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 navigation	case
4	navigation	navigation	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 facilitation	nmod
5	by	by	SCONJ	_	6 foraging	mark
6	foraging	forage	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 facilitation	acl
7	workers	worker	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 foraging	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	forage	gerund	the facilitation of navigation not said here	workers					vn rummage-35.5-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent worker=Location
2	facilitate			navigation					nom facilitation «state transitive»: of=patient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The minimisation of exposure to the intense midday sun

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 minimisation	det
2	minimisation	minimisation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 exposure	case
4	exposure	exposure	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 minimisation	nmod
5	to	to	ADP	_	9 sun	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 sun	det
7	intense	intense	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 sun	amod
8	midday	midday	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 sun	compound
9	sun	sun	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 minimisation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	minimise			exposure				to the intense midday sun	nom minimisation «act transitive»: of=patient to=obl

Option 3

The attraction of mates from distant colonies

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 attraction	det
2	attraction	attraction	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 mates	case
4	mates	mate	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 attraction	nmod
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 colonies	case
6	distant	distant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 colonies	amod
7	colonies	colony	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 mates	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	attract			mates from distant colonies					nom attraction «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

The collection of rainwater from the prevailing winds

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 collection	det
2	collection	collection	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 rainwater	case
4	rainwater	rainwater	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 collection	nmod
5	from	from	ADP	_	8 winds	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 winds	det
7	prevailing	prevail	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 winds	amod
8	winds	wind	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 collection	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prevail	gerund							vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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/243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers/e2/