Exam question 1 · City birds: sparrows, starlings, swifts, crows and peregri…

Identify the mechanism by which a murmuration of starlings is coordinated.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, mechanism · What happens: identify, coordinate, murmur · To what, where: mechanism, murmuration, starlings

This is exam question 1 of lesson 369 «City birds: sparrows, starlings, swifts, crows and peregrines on tall buildings» 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	3 mechanism	det
3	mechanism	mechanism	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 coordinated	obl
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 murmuration	det
7	murmuration	murmuration	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 coordinated	nsubj:pass
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 starlings	case
9	starlings	starling	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 murmuration	nmod
10	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 coordinated	aux:pass
11	coordinated	coordinate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 mechanism	acl:relcl
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the mechanism	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent mechanism=Theme
2	coordinate	present · passive	the mechanism	a murmuration of starlings	tree rules
3	murmur			starlings	nom murmuration «event transitive»: of=patient

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

Each bird responds to approximately seven of its nearest neighbours

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 responds	nsubj
3	responds	respond	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	6 seven	mark
5	approximately	approximately	ADV	_	6 seven	advmod
6	seven	seven	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	3 responds	ccomp
7	of	of	ADP	_	10 neighbours	case
8	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 neighbours	nmod:poss
9	nearest	near	ADJ	Degree=Sup	10 neighbours	amod
10	neighbours	neighbour	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 seven	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	respond speech: other	present	each bird						vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

A single leader directs the movements of the flock

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 leader	det
2	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 leader	amod
3	leader	leader	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 directs	nsubj
4	directs	direct	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 movements	det
6	movements	movement	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 directs	obj
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 flock	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 flock	det
9	flock	flock	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 movements	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	direct	present	a single leader	the movements of the flock					vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.predicate»: agent=Agent movement=Eventuality
2	move			the flock					nom movement «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

The birds are guided solely by the wind

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 birds	det
2	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 guided	nsubj:pass
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 guided	aux:pass
4	guided	guide	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	solely	solely	ADV	_	4 guided	advmod
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 wind	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 wind	det
8	wind	wind	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 guided	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	guide	present · passive	the wind	the birds				solely property	vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme

Option 4

The flock follows a route which was determined in advance at the roost

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 flock	det
2	flock	flock	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 follows	nsubj
3	follows	follow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 route	det
5	route	route	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 follows	obj
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 determined	nsubj:pass
7	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 determined	aux:pass
8	determined	determine	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 route	acl:relcl
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 advance	case
10	advance	advance	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 determined	obl
11	at	at	ADP	_	13 roost	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 roost	det
13	roost	roost	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 determined	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	present	the flock	a route					vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent route=Theme
2	determine	past · passive		a route		advance		at the roost	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic

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/369-city-birds-sparrows-starlings-swifts-crows-and-peregrines-on-tall-buildings/e1/