Exam question 4 · How scientists find out: naturalists, Darwin, the microsco…

Ascertain the purpose served by the attachment of rings to the legs of birds.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, serve, attach · To what, where: purpose, rings

This is exam question 4 of lesson 264 «How scientists find out: naturalists, Darwin, the microscope and wildlife filming» 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 purpose	det
3	purpose	purpose	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	served	serve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 purpose	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 attachment	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 attachment	det
7	attachment	attachment	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 served	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 rings	case
9	rings	ring	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 attachment	nmod
10	to	to	ADP	_	12 legs	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 legs	det
12	legs	leg	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 rings	nmod
13	of	of	ADP	_	14 birds	case
14	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 legs	nmod
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the purpose		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent purpose=Topic
2	serve	participle		the purpose not said here	by the attachment of rings to the legs of birds	vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent
3	attach			rings to the legs of birds		nom attachment «feeling 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 · ← Mova's choice

The identification of their song

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 identification	det
2	identification	identification	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 song	case
4	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 song	nmod:poss
5	song	song	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 identification	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify			their song					nom identification «act transitive»: of=patient
2	sing		their = they						nom song «communication intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 2

The protection of their legs from predators

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 protection	det
2	protection	protection	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 legs	case
4	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 legs	nmod:poss
5	legs	leg	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 protection	nmod
6	from	from	ADP	_	7 predators	case
7	predators	predator	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 legs	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	protect			their legs from predators					nom protection «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

The improvement of their flight

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 improvement	det
2	improvement	improvement	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 flight	case
4	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 flight	nmod:poss
5	flight	flight	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 improvement	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	improve		their flight						nom improvement «event intransitive»: of=agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The determination of the routes of their travel and the length of their lives

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 determination	det
2	determination	determination	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 routes	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 routes	det
5	routes	route	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 determination	nmod
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 travel	case
7	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 travel	nmod:poss
8	travel	travel	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 routes	nmod
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 length	cc
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 length	det
11	length	length	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 travel	conj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 lives	case
13	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 lives	nmod:poss
14	lives	life	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 length	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	determine		the routes of routes's travel and the length of travel's lives						nom determination «act intransitive»: of=agent
2	travel		routes = route						nom travel «act intransitive»: poss=agent

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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