Exam question 2 · Animal builders: spiders' webs and silk

Identify the principal means by which a web-building spider ascertains the capture of its prey.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, principal, building spider · What happens: identify, mean, ascertain, capture · To what, where: capture, prey

This is exam question 2 of lesson 244 «Animal builders: spiders' webs and silk» 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	3 principal	det
3	principal	principal	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 means	nsubj
4	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Identify	ccomp
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 ascertains	obl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 spider	det
8	web	web	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 building	compound
9	-	-	PUNCT	_	8 web	punct
10	building	building	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 spider	compound
11	spider	spider	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 ascertains	nsubj
12	ascertains	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 means	parataxis
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 capture	det
14	capture	capture	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 ascertains	obj
15	of	of	ADP	_	17 prey	case
16	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	17 prey	nmod:poss
17	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 capture	nmod
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	mean	present	the principal		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
3	ascertain	present	a building spider	the capture of spider's prey	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent capture=Topic
4	capture			spider's prey	nom capture «act transitive»: of=patient

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

Continuous visual observation at great distance

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Continuous	continuous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 observation	amod
2	visual	visual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 observation	amod
3	observation	observation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	at	at	ADP	_	6 distance	case
5	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 distance	amod
6	distance	distance	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 observation	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 2

The detection of sound carried through the air

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 detection	det
2	detection	detection	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 sound	case
4	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 detection	nmod
5	carried	carry	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 detection	acl
6	through	through	ADP	_	8 air	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 air	det
8	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 carried	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	carry	participle		the detection of sound not said here		the air			vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	detect			sound					nom detection «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

The assistance of other spiders stationed nearby

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 assistance	det
2	assistance	assistance	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 spiders	case
4	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 spiders	amod
5	spiders	spider	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 assistance	nmod
6	stationed	station	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 spiders	acl
7	nearby	nearby	ADV	_	6 stationed	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	station	participle		other spiders not said here				nearby property	vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent
2	assist			other spiders					nom assistance «act transitive»: of=patient

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

The perception of vibrations transmitted through the threads

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 perception	det
2	perception	perception	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 vibrations	case
4	vibrations	vibration	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 perception	nmod
5	transmitted	transmit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 vibrations	acl
6	through	through	ADP	_	8 threads	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 threads	det
8	threads	thread	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 transmitted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	transmit	participle		vibrations not said here		the threads			vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	perceive			vibrations					nom perception «cognition 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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