Exam question 3 · How owls work: silent wings, turning heads, pellets and ow…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises an owl pellet?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: owl pellet

This is exam question 3 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 pellet	det
10	owl	owl	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 pellet	compound
11	pellet	pellet	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		a owl pellet				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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

A mass of indigestible fur and bone regurgitated by the owl

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 mass	det
2	mass	mass	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 fur	case
4	indigestible	indigestible	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 fur	compound
5	fur	fur	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 mass	nmod
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 bone	cc
7	bone	bone	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 fur	conj
8	regurgitated	regurgitate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 mass	acl
9	by	by	ADP	_	11 owl	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 owl	det
11	owl	owl	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 regurgitated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	regurgitate	participle		a mass of indigestible fur and bone not said here				by the owl	vn exhale-40.1.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

A store of food concealed by the owl beneath leaves for the winter

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 store	det
2	store	store	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 food	case
4	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 store	nmod
5	concealed	conceal	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 store	acl
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 owl	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 owl	det
8	owl	owl	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 concealed	obl
9	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	10 leaves	case
10	leaves	leaf	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 owl	nmod
11	for	for	ADP	_	13 winter	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 winter	det
13	winter	winter	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 concealed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	conceal	participle		a store of food not said here			winter	by the owl beneath leaves	vn concealment-16 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent by owl=Location

Option 3

An unfertilised egg discarded from the nest

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 egg	det
2	unfertilised	unfertilised	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 egg	amod
3	egg	egg	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	discarded	discard	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 egg	acl
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 nest	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 nest	det
7	nest	nest	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 discarded	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	discard	participle		a unfertilised egg not said here		the nest			vn throw-17.1 «NP V NP PP.initial_location»: agent=Agent from nest=Initial_Location

Option 4

The faeces of the owl after complete digestion

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 faeces	det
2	faeces	faece	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 owl	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 owl	det
5	owl	owl	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 faeces	nmod
6	after	after	ADP	_	8 digestion	case
7	complete	complete	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 digestion	amod
8	digestion	digestion	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 faeces	nmod

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

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/e3/