Test 11 · Animal builders: termite mounds, weaver birds and other ne…

«how can tiny bugs build a house that big, no way»

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: tiny bugs · What happens: build · To what, where: house

This is test 11 of lesson 243 «Animal builders: termite mounds, weaver birds and other nest makers» of the biology course of Mova's primary school. 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	«	«	PUNCT	_	6 build	punct
2	how	how	ADV	PronType=Int	6 build	advmod
3	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 build	aux
4	tiny	tiny	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 bugs	amod
5	bugs	bug	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 build	nsubj
6	build	build	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 house	det
8	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 build	obj
9	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 big	nsubj
10	big	big	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 house	amod
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 way	punct
12	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	13 way	det
13	way	way	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 house	conj
14	»	»	PUNCT	_	6 build	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	build in a quote	can	tiny bugs	a house and no way					vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset house=Product

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

Elephants help them build it

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Elephants	elephant	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 help	nsubj
2	help	help	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 help	obj
4	build	build	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 help	xcomp
5	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 build	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	help	present	Elephants	them = they					vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent they=Beneficiary clause=Theme
2	build	infinitive	them = they not said here	it					vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset it=Product

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Millions of termites each add a little soil and spit

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Millions	million	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 add	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	3 termites	case
3	termites	termite	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Millions	nmod
4	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	5 add	advmod
5	add	add	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 soil	det
7	little	little	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 soil	amod
8	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 add	obj
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 spit	cc
10	spit	spit	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 soil	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	add speech: assert	present	Millions of termites	a little soil and spit					vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent soil=Patient

Option 3

The wind piles up the soil

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 wind	det
2	wind	wind	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 piles	nsubj
3	piles	pile	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	up	up	ADP	_	3 piles	compound:prt
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 soil	det
6	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 piles	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pile up	present	the wind	the soil					vn spray-9.7-1-1 «NP.theme V NP»: agent=Theme soil=Destination

Option 4

A queen termite builds it alone, one grain at a time

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 termite	det
2	queen	queen	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 termite	compound
3	termite	termite	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 builds	nsubj
4	builds	build	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 builds	obj
6	alone	alone	ADV	_	4 builds	advmod
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 grain	punct
8	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	9 grain	nummod
9	grain	grain	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 builds	parataxis
10	at	at	ADP	_	12 time	case
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 time	det
12	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 builds	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	build	present	a queen termite	it			time	alone property	vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset it=Product

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/t11/