Exam question 4 · Animal builders: termite mounds, weaver birds and other ne…

Ascertain the material of which the nests harvested for bird's nest soup are predominantly composed.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, nests · What happens: ascertain, harvest, compose · To what, where: material

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 material	det
3	material	material	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 harvested	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 nests	det
7	nests	nest	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 harvested	nsubj
8	harvested	harvest	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 material	acl:relcl
9	for	for	ADP	_	13 soup	case
10	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 soup	nmod:poss
11	's	's	PART	_	10 bird	case
12	nest	nest	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 soup	compound
13	soup	soup	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 harvested	obl
14	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	16 composed	aux:pass
15	predominantly	predominantly	ADV	_	16 composed	advmod
16	composed	compose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 harvested	conj
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the material		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent material=Topic
2	harvest	past	the nests		of the material; for bird's nest soup	tree rules
3	compose	present · passive	the nests not said here		predominantly property	vn create-26.4-1 «NP V»

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 right answer

The hardened saliva of the swiftlet

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 saliva	det
2	hardened	harden	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 saliva	amod
3	saliva	saliva	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 swiftlet	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 swiftlet	det
6	swiftlet	swiftlet	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 saliva	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	harden	participle							vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 2

Seaweed gathered from the shore at low tide

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Seaweed	seaweed	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 gathered	nsubj
2	gathered	gather	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	5 shore	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 shore	det
5	shore	shore	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 gathered	obl
6	at	at	ADP	_	8 tide	case
7	low	low	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 tide	amod
8	tide	tide	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 gathered	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	gather	past	Seaweed			the shore		at low tide	vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent from shore=Source at tide=Asset

Option 3

Woven grasses bound with mud

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Woven	woven	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 grasses	amod
2	grasses	grass	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 bound	nsubj
3	bound	bound	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	with	with	ADP	_	5 mud	case
5	mud	mud	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 bound	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bound	present	Woven grasses					with mud	vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

Feathers shed by the parent birds

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Feathers	feather	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
2	shed	shed	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Feathers	acl
3	by	by	ADP	_	6 birds	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 birds	det
5	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 birds	compound
6	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 shed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	shed	participle		Feathers not said here				by the parent birds	vn substance_emission-43.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Source

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/e4/