Exam question 1 · Birds: feathers, wings, eggs and flight

Identify the principal function of the hooked barbules of a feather.

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

This is exam question 1 of lesson 33 «Birds: feathers, wings, eggs and flight» 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	_	8 barbules	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 barbules	det
7	hooked	hook	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 barbules	amod
8	barbules	barbule	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 function	nmod
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 feather	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 feather	det
11	feather	feather	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 barbules	nmod
12	.	.	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 hooked barbules of a feather					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent function=Theme
2	hook	participle							vn coil-9.6-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Theme

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

To interlock the barbs into a continuous surface

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 interlock	mark
2	interlock	interlock	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 barbs	det
4	barbs	barb	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 interlock	obj
5	into	into	ADP	_	8 surface	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 surface	det
7	continuous	continuous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 surface	amod
8	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 interlock	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	interlock	to-infinitive		the barbs		a continuous surface			vn amalgamate-22.2-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent barb=Patient

Option 2

To anchor the feather within the skin

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 anchor	mark
2	anchor	anchor	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 feather	det
4	feather	feather	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 anchor	obj
5	within	within	ADP	_	7 skin	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 skin	det
7	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 anchor	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	anchor	to-infinitive		the feather				within the skin	vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent feather=Patient

Option 3

To store oil for waterproofing

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 store	mark
2	store	store	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	oil	oil	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 store	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 waterproofing	case
5	waterproofing	waterproofing	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 store	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	store	to-infinitive		oil				for waterproofing	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent oil=Theme

Option 4

To sense vibrations of the air during flight

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 sense	mark
2	sense	sense	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	vibrations	vibration	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 sense	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 air	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 air	det
6	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 vibrations	nmod
7	during	during	ADP	_	8 flight	case
8	flight	flight	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 sense	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sense	to-infinitive		vibrations of the air			during flight		vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer vibration=Stimulus
2	vibrate		the air						nom vibration «act intransitive»: of=agent

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/33-birds-feathers-wings-eggs-and-flight/e1/