Exam question 1 · Owls of the world: barn owls, eagle owls, elf owls and bur…

Identify the principal sense upon which the barn owl relies in order to locate concealed prey.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, barn owl · What happens: identify, rely, locate, conceal · To what, where: principal sense, order, concealed prey

This is exam question 1 of lesson 301 «Owls of the world: barn owls, eagle owls, elf owls and burrowing owls» 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 sense	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 sense	amod
4	sense	sense	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 relies	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 owl	det
8	barn	barn	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 owl	compound
9	owl	owl	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 relies	nsubj
10	relies	rely	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 sense	parataxis
11	in	in	ADP	_	12 order	case
12	order	order	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 relies	obl
13	to	to	PART	_	14 locate	mark
14	locate	locate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 relies	advcl
15	concealed	conceal	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	16 prey	amod
16	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 locate	obj
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal sense			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent sense=Theme
2	rely	present	the barn owl		order	upon the principal sense	vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S_ING»: agent=Agent
3	locate	to-infinitive	the barn owl not said here	concealed prey			tree rules
4	conceal	participle					vn concealment-16 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

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

Hearing, assisted by a facial disc that directs sound towards the ears

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Hearing	hearing	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 assisted	punct
3	assisted	assist	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Hearing	acl
4	by	by	ADP	_	7 disc	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 disc	det
6	facial	facial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 disc	amod
7	disc	disc	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 assisted	obl
8	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 directs	nsubj
9	directs	direct	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 disc	acl:relcl
10	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 directs	obj
11	towards	towards	ADP	_	13 ears	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 ears	det
13	ears	ear	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 directs	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	assist	participle		Hearing not said here				by a facial disc	vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent
2	direct	present	a facial disc	sound				towards the ears	vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.predicate»: agent=Agent sound=Eventuality

Option 2

Touch, assisted by sensitive feathers upon the feet

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Touch	touch	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 assisted	punct
3	assisted	assist	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Touch	acl
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 feathers	case
5	sensitive	sensitive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 feathers	amod
6	feathers	feather	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 assisted	obl
7	upon	upon	ADP	_	9 feet	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 feet	det
9	feet	foot	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 assisted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	assist	participle		Touch not said here				by sensitive feathers; upon the feet	vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent

Option 3

Taste, assisted by a forked tongue which samples the air for traces of prey

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Taste	taste	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 assisted	punct
3	assisted	assist	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Taste	acl
4	by	by	ADP	_	7 tongue	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 tongue	det
6	forked	fork	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 tongue	amod
7	tongue	tongue	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 assisted	obl
8	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 samples	nsubj
9	samples	sample	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 tongue	acl:relcl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 air	det
11	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 samples	obj
12	for	for	ADP	_	13 traces	case
13	traces	trace	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 samples	obl
14	of	of	ADP	_	15 prey	case
15	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 traces	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	assist	participle		Taste not said here	by a forked tongue	vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent
2	fork	participle				vn pocket-9.10 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent
3	sample	present	a forked tongue	the air	for traces of prey	vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent air=Theme for trace=Attribute

Option 4

Smell, assisted by enlarged nostrils situated above the beak

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Smell	smell	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 assisted	punct
3	assisted	assist	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Smell	acl
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 nostrils	case
5	enlarged	enlarge	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 nostrils	amod
6	nostrils	nostril	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 assisted	obl
7	situated	situate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 nostrils	acl
8	above	above	ADP	_	10 beak	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 beak	det
10	beak	beak	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 situated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	assist	participle	Smell not said here		by enlarged nostrils	vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent
2	enlarge	participle				vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
3	situate	participle	enlarged nostrils not said here	the beak		vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent above beak=Destination

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/301-owls-of-the-world-barn-owls-eagle-owls-elf-owls-and-burrowing-owls/e1/