Exam question 4 · Parrots of the world: macaws, cockatoos, African greys, lo…

Ascertain the function of the brush-tipped tongue of the lorikeet.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, tip · To what, where: function

This is exam question 4 of lesson 303 «Parrots of the world: macaws, cockatoos, African greys, lorikeets and the cheeky kea» 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 function	det
3	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	9 tongue	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 tongue	det
6	brush	brush	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 tipped	compound
7	-	-	PUNCT	_	6 brush	punct
8	tipped	tip	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 tongue	amod
9	tongue	tongue	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 function	nmod
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 lorikeet	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 lorikeet	det
12	lorikeet	lorikeet	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 tongue	nmod
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the function of the tipped tongue of the lorikeet					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent function=Topic
2	tip	participle							vn throw-17.1-1-1 «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

The collection of nectar and pollen from flowers

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 collection	det
2	collection	collection	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 nectar	case
4	nectar	nectar	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 collection	nmod
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 pollen	cc
6	pollen	pollen	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 collection	conj
7	from	from	ADP	_	8 flowers	case
8	flowers	flower	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 collection	nmod

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

Option 2

The cracking of hard palm nuts

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 cracking	det
2	cracking	cracking	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 nuts	case
4	hard	hard	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 nuts	amod
5	palm	palm	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 nuts	compound
6	nuts	nut	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 cracking	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	crack		hard palm nuts						nom cracking «event intransitive»: of=agent

Option 3

The production of mimicked sounds and human speech

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	_	5 sounds	case
4	mimicked	mimic	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 sounds	amod
5	sounds	sound	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 production	nmod
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 speech	cc
7	human	human	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 speech	amod
8	speech	speech	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 sounds	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mimic	participle							tree rules
2	produce			mimicked sounds and human speech					nom production «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

The capture of flying insects in the air

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 capture	det
2	capture	capture	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 insects	case
4	flying	fly	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 insects	amod
5	insects	insect	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 capture	nmod
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 air	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 air	det
8	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 insects	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fly	gerund							vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	capture			flying insects in the air					nom capture «act 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/303-parrots-of-the-world-macaws-cockatoos-african-greys-lorikeets-and-the-cheeky-kea/e4/