Exam question 2 · Birds of prey and owls

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

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: owl pellet

This is exam question 2 of lesson 34 «Birds of prey and owls» 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	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		the 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

It is an unfertilised egg

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	5 egg	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 egg	cop
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 egg	det
4	unfertilised	unfertilised	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 egg	amod
5	egg	egg	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a unfertilised egg					tree rules

Option 2

It is the owl's ordinary dropping

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	7 dropping	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 dropping	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 owl	det
4	owl	owl	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 dropping	nmod:poss
5	's	's	PART	_	4 owl	case
6	ordinary	ordinary	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 dropping	amod
7	dropping	dropping	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	the owl's ordinary dropping					tree rules

Option 3

It is a structure of twigs and moss built by the owl for nesting in the spring

The tree, 17 words

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 structure	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 structure	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 structure	det
4	structure	structure	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 twigs	case
6	twigs	twig	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 structure	nmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 moss	cc
8	moss	moss	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 structure	conj
9	built	build	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 structure	acl
10	by	by	ADP	_	12 owl	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 owl	det
12	owl	owl	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 built	obl
13	for	for	SCONJ	_	14 nesting	mark
14	nesting	nest	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	9 built	advcl
15	in	in	ADP	_	17 spring	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 spring	det
17	spring	spring	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 nesting	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a structure and moss		of twigs	tree rules
2	build	participle		a structure and moss not said here		by the owl	vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute
3	nest	gerund			spring		vn berry-13.7 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It comprises the indigestible fur and bones regurgitated by the owl

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	2 comprises	nsubj
2	comprises	comprise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 fur	det
4	indigestible	indigestible	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 fur	compound
5	fur	fur	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 comprises	obj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 bones	cc
7	bones	bone	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 fur	conj
8	regurgitated	regurgitate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 fur	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	comprise	present	It	the indigestible fur and bones					vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme fur=Pivot
2	regurgitate	participle		the indigestible fur and bones not said here				by the owl	vn exhale-40.1.3-1 «NP V»: agent=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.

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