Exam question 2 · Birds: feathers, wings, eggs and flight

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the formation of geese in flight?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: formation

This is exam question 2 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	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	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 formation	det
10	formation	formation	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 geese	case
12	geese	goose	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 formation	nmod
13	in	in	ADP	_	14 flight	case
14	flight	flight	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 geese	nmod
15	?	?	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		the formation of geese in flight				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 formation serves solely for display

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 formation	det
2	formation	formation	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 serves	nsubj
3	serves	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	solely	solely	ADV	_	3 serves	advmod
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 display	case
6	display	display	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 serves	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	serve	present	the formation					for display; solely property	vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent for display=Recipient

Option 2

The leading bird bears no additional burden

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 bears	det
2	leading	lead	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 bears	amod
3	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 bears	compound
4	bears	bear	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
5	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	7 burden	det
6	additional	additional	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 burden	amod
7	burden	burden	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 bears	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lead	gerund							vn result-27.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Precondition

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Each bird benefits from rising air generated by the wingtip of the bird ahead

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 bird	det
2	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 benefits	nsubj
3	benefits	benefit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 air	case
5	rising	rise	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 air	amod
6	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 benefits	obl
7	generated	generate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 air	acl
8	by	by	ADP	_	10 wingtip	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 wingtip	det
10	wingtip	wingtip	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 generated	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 bird	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 bird	det
13	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 wingtip	nmod
14	ahead	ahead	ADV	_	13 bird	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	benefit	present	each bird		rising air		vn benefit-72.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Beneficiary from air=Causer
2	rise	gerund					vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	generate	participle		rising air not said here		by the wingtip of the bird	vn grow-26.2.1 «NP.patient V PP.product»: agent=Patient

Option 4

The formation is maintained by vocal command alone, issued by the eldest goose of the flock

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 formation	det
2	formation	formation	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 maintained	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 maintained	aux:pass
4	maintained	maintain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 command	case
6	vocal	vocal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 command	amod
7	command	command	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 maintained	obl
8	alone	alone	ADV	_	4 maintained	advmod
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 issued	punct
10	issued	issue	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 maintained	conj
11	by	by	ADP	_	14 goose	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 goose	det
13	eldest	eld	ADJ	Degree=Sup	14 goose	amod
14	goose	goose	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 issued	obl
15	of	of	ADP	_	17 flock	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 flock	det
17	flock	flock	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 goose	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	maintain	present · passive	vocal command	the formation				alone property	vn declare-29.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent subject=Theme
2	issue	participle	vocal command not said here					by the eldest goose of the flock	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by goose=Location

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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