Test 8 · Rodents of every kind: squirrels, marmots, prairie dogs, p…

«why would a squirrel fly down the tree when it can just climb» What is the best answer?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: tree, best answer · What happens: climb, be · To what, where: squirrel fly

This is test 8 of lesson 317 «Rodents of every kind: squirrels, marmots, prairie dogs, porcupines, chinchillas and dormice» of the biology course of Mova's primary school. 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	«	«	PUNCT	_	6 fly	punct
2	why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	6 fly	advmod
3	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 fly	aux
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 fly	det
5	squirrel	squirrel	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 fly	compound
6	fly	fly	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	down	down	ADP	_	9 tree	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 tree	det
9	tree	tree	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 fly	nmod
10	when	when	SCONJ	_	14 climb	mark
11	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 climb	nsubj
12	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	14 climb	aux
13	just	just	ADV	_	14 climb	advmod
14	climb	climb	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 fly	advcl
15	»	»	PUNCT	_	14 climb	punct
16	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	14 climb	obj
17	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	16 What	cop
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 answer	det
19	best	good	ADJ	Degree=Sup	20 answer	amod
20	answer	answer	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 What	nsubj
21	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 fly	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	climb in a quote	can	tree						vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	is a	present	the best answer	a squirrel fly down the tree					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

It is too lazy to climb

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 lazy	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 lazy	cop
3	too	too	ADV	_	4 lazy	advmod
4	lazy	lazy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 climb	mark
6	climb	climb	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 lazy	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					lazy property	tree rules
2	climb	to-infinitive							vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

Flying squirrels have no claws at all

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Flying	fly	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 squirrels	amod
2	squirrels	squirrel	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 have	nsubj
3	have	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	5 claws	det
5	claws	claw	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 have	obj
6	at	at	ADP	_	7 all	case
7	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	3 have	obl

#	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	have	present	Flying squirrels	no claws		all			vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent claw=Patient

Option 3

Climbing wears down its front teeth, so it saves them by flying

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Climbing	climb	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 wears	nsubj
2	wears	wear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	down	down	ADP	_	6 teeth	case
4	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 teeth	nmod:poss
5	front	front	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 teeth	amod
6	teeth	tooth	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 wears	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 saves	punct
8	so	so	ADV	_	10 saves	advmod
9	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 saves	nsubj
10	saves	save	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 wears	parataxis
11	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 saves	obj
12	by	by	SCONJ	_	13 flying	mark
13	flying	fly	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	10 saves	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	climb	gerund			vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	wear down	present		its front teeth	vn wipe_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent tooth=Source
3	save	present	it	teeth = tooth	vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme
4	fly	gerund			vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Gliding keeps it away from the ground, where predators wait

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Gliding	glide	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 keeps	nsubj
2	keeps	keep	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 keeps	obj
4	away	away	ADV	_	2 keeps	advmod
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 ground	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 ground	det
7	ground	ground	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 keeps	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 wait	punct
9	where	where	ADV	PronType=Rel	11 wait	advmod
10	predators	predator	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 wait	nsubj
11	wait	wait	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 ground	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	glide	gerund					vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	keep away	present		it	the ground	away property	vn forbid-64.4 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Causer it=Beneficiary from ground=Eventuality
3	wait	present	predators				vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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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