Exam question 2 · Poo, wee and smells: rabbits that eat their droppings, dun…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the navigation of certain dung beetles at night?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris, navigate · To what, where: navigation, certain dung beetles

This is exam question 2 of lesson 398 «Poo, wee and smells: rabbits that eat their droppings, dung beetles and the smelliest animals» 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 navigation	det
10	navigation	navigation	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 beetles	case
12	certain	certain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 beetles	amod
13	dung	dung	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 beetles	compound
14	beetles	beetle	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 navigation	nmod
15	at	at	ADP	_	16 night	case
16	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 beetles	nmod
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the navigation of certain dung beetles at night	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	navigate		certain dung beetles at night		nom navigation «act 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

They maintain a straight course by reference to the Milky Way and the Moon

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 maintain	nsubj
2	maintain	maintain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 course	det
4	straight	straight	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 course	amod
5	course	course	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 maintain	obj
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 reference	case
7	reference	reference	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 maintain	obl
8	to	to	ADP	_	11 Way	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 Way	det
10	Milky	milky	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 Way	amod
11	Way	Way	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 maintain	obl
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 Moon	cc
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 Moon	det
14	Moon	Moon	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 Way	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	maintain	present	They	a straight course				by reference; to the Milky Way and the Moon	vn declare-29.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent course=Theme

Option 2

They navigate by the sound of flowing water

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 navigate	nsubj
2	navigate	navigate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	by	by	ADP	_	5 sound	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 sound	det
5	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 navigate	obl
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 water	case
7	flowing	flow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 water	amod
8	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 sound	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	navigate	present	They					by the sound of flowing water	vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent
2	flow	gerund							vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3

They are incapable of maintaining a straight course

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 incapable	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 incapable	cop
3	incapable	incapable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	of	of	SCONJ	_	5 maintaining	mark
5	maintaining	maintain	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 incapable	advcl
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 course	det
7	straight	straight	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 course	amod
8	course	course	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 maintaining	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	They					incapable property	tree rules
2	maintain	gerund	They not said here	a straight course					vn declare-29.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent course=Theme

Option 4

They navigate exclusively by the scent of flowers

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 navigate	nsubj
2	navigate	navigate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	2 navigate	advmod
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 scent	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 scent	det
6	scent	scent	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 navigate	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 flowers	case
8	flowers	flower	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 scent	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	navigate	present	They					by the scent of flowers; exclusively property	vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent
2	scent			flowers					nom scent «cognition transitive»: of=patient

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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