Exam question 1 · How owls work: silent wings, turning heads, pellets and ow…

Identify the principal function of the comb-like leading edge and soft fringes of the flight feathers of owls.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, lead · To what, where: principal function

This is exam question 1 of lesson 302 «How owls work: silent wings, turning heads, pellets and owl myths» 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 function	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 function	amod
4	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	11 edge	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 edge	det
7	comb	comb	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 like	compound
8	-	-	PUNCT	_	7 comb	punct
9	like	like	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 edge	amod
10	leading	lead	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	11 edge	amod
11	edge	edge	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 function	nmod
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 fringes	cc
13	soft	soft	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 fringes	amod
14	fringes	fringe	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 edge	conj
15	of	of	ADP	_	18 feathers	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 feathers	det
17	flight	flight	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 feathers	compound
18	feathers	feather	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 fringes	nmod
19	of	of	ADP	_	20 owls	case
20	owls	owl	NOUN	Number=Plur	18 feathers	nmod
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal function of the like leading edge and soft fringes of the flight feathers of owls					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent function=Theme
2	lead	gerund							vn result-27.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Precondition

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 storage of water for use in hot weather

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 storage	det
2	storage	storage	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 water	case
4	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 storage	nmod
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 use	case
6	use	use	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 storage	nmod
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 weather	case
8	hot	hot	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 weather	amod
9	weather	weather	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 storage	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	store			water		hot weather		for use	nom storage «act transitive»: of=patient for=obl in=place

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The reduction of the noise of flight by breaking the air into minute swirls

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 reduction	det
2	reduction	reduction	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 noise	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 noise	det
5	noise	noise	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reduction	nmod
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 flight	case
7	flight	flight	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 noise	nmod
8	by	by	SCONJ	_	9 breaking	mark
9	breaking	break	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 reduction	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 air	det
11	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 breaking	obj
12	into	into	ADP	_	14 swirls	case
13	minute	minute	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 swirls	compound
14	swirls	swirl	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 breaking	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	break	gerund	the reduction of the noise of flight not said here	the air	into minute swirls result	vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent air=Patient into swirl=Result
2	reduce			the noise of flight		nom reduction «act transitive»: of=patient
3	noise		flight			nom noise «event intransitive»: of=agent

Option 3

The production of a loud warning sound during flight, by which rivals are deterred

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 production	det
2	production	production	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	7 sound	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 sound	det
5	loud	loud	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 sound	amod
6	warning	warning	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 sound	compound
7	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 production	nmod
8	during	during	ADP	_	9 flight	case
9	flight	flight	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 sound	nmod
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 deterred	punct
11	by	by	ADP	_	12 which	case
12	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	15 deterred	obl
13	rivals	rival	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 deterred	nsubj
14	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 deterred	aux:pass
15	deterred	deter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 production	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	deter	present · passive	the production of a loud warning sound during flight	rivals					vn discourage-64.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer subject=Eventuality
2	produce			a loud warning sound during flight					nom production «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

The attraction of prey by means of a visual display

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 attraction	det
2	attraction	attraction	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 means	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 prey	case
4	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 attraction	nmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 means	case
6	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	of	of	ADP	_	10 display	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 display	det
9	visual	visual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 display	amod
10	display	display	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 means	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mean	present	the attraction of prey					of a visual display	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
2	attract			prey					nom attraction «phenomenon 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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/302-how-owls-work-silent-wings-turning-heads-pellets-and-owl-myths/e1/