Exam question 1 · Ukraine's steppe: marmots, sousliks, great bustards and As…

Identify the principal function of the whistle emitted by the steppe marmot.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, emit · To what, where: principal function, whistle

This is exam question 1 of lesson 373 «Ukraine's steppe: marmots, sousliks, great bustards and Askania-Nova» 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	_	7 whistle	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 whistle	det
7	whistle	whistle	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 function	nmod
8	emitted	emit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 whistle	acl
9	by	by	ADP	_	12 marmot	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 marmot	det
11	steppe	steppe	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 marmot	compound
12	marmot	marmot	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 emitted	obl
13	.	.	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 whistle					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent function=Theme
2	emit	participle		the whistle not said here				by the steppe marmot	vn substance_emission-43.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Source

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

To summon birds to its burrow

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 summon	mark
2	summon	summon	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 summon	obj
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 burrow	case
5	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 burrow	nmod:poss
6	burrow	burrow	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 summon	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	summon	to-infinitive			birds			to its burrow	vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bird=Recipient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

To warn members of its family of approaching predators

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 warn	mark
2	warn	warn	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	members	member	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 warn	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 family	case
5	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 family	nmod:poss
6	family	family	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 members	nmod
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 predators	case
8	approaching	approach	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	9 predators	amod
9	predators	predator	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 family	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	warn speech: warn	to-infinitive		members of its family of approaching predators					vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent member=Recipient
2	approach	gerund							vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3

To attract a mate in autumn

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 attract	mark
2	attract	attract	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 mate	det
4	mate	mate	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 attract	obj
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 autumn	case
6	autumn	autumn	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 attract	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	attract	to-infinitive		a mate			autumn		vn lure-59.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mate=Patient

Option 4

To signal the onset of rain

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 signal	mark
2	signal	signal	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 onset	det
4	onset	onset	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 signal	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 rain	case
6	rain	rain	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 onset	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signal speech: other	to-infinitive		the onset of rain					vn instr_communication-37.4.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent onset=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/373-ukraine-s-steppe-marmots-sousliks-great-bustards-and-askania-nova/e1/