Exam question 3 · The capybara: the calmest animal, friend of crocodiles?

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the birds which stand upon capybaras.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, birds · What happens: select, establish, concern, stand · To what, where: response, capybaras

This is exam question 3 of lesson 42 «The capybara: the calmest animal, friend of crocodiles?» 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	11 birds	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 birds	det
11	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 facts	nmod
12	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 stand	nsubj
13	stand	stand	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 birds	acl:relcl
14	upon	upon	ADP	_	15 capybaras	case
15	capybaras	capybara	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 stand	obl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response		consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle					vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund					vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer
4	stand	present	the birds		capybaras		vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent upon capybara=Location

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

The birds feed upon the capybara's fur to its detriment, an arrangement termed parasitism

The tree, 15 words

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	3 feed	nsubj
3	feed	feed	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	8 fur	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 capybara	det
6	capybara	capybara	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 fur	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 capybara	case
8	fur	fur	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 feed	obl
9	to	to	ADP	_	11 detriment	case
10	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 detriment	nmod:poss
11	detriment	detriment	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 feed	obl
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 arrangement	punct
13	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 arrangement	det
14	arrangement	arrangement	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 detriment	appos
15	termed	term	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 arrangement	acl
16	parasitism	parasitism	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 termed	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	feed	present	the birds		fur's detriment			upon the capybara's fur	vn feeding-39.7 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to detriment=Recipient
2	term	participle	a arrangement not said here	parasitism					vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent parasitism=Theme

Option 2

The birds alert caimans to the location of the capybara

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	3 alert	nsubj
3	alert	alert	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	caimans	caiman	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 alert	obj
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 location	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 location	det
7	location	location	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 alert	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 capybara	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 capybara	det
10	capybara	capybara	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 location	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	alert speech: other	present	the birds	caimans				to the location of the capybara	vn advise-37.9 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent caiman=Recipient

Option 3

The birds are carried to their nests in exchange for nothing

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 carried	nsubj:pass
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 carried	aux:pass
4	carried	carry	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 nests	case
6	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 nests	nmod:poss
7	nests	nest	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 carried	obl
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 exchange	case
9	exchange	exchange	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 carried	obl
10	for	for	ADP	_	11 nothing	case
11	nothing	nothing	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	4 carried	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	carry	present · passive		the birds		exchange		to birds's nests; for nothing	vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme to nest=Destination

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The birds remove ticks and flies, an arrangement of mutual benefit termed mutualism

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	3 remove	nsubj
3	remove	remove	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	ticks	tick	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 remove	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 flies	cc
6	flies	fly	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 ticks	conj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 arrangement	punct
8	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 arrangement	det
9	arrangement	arrangement	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 remove	parataxis
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 benefit	case
11	mutual	mutual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 benefit	amod
12	benefit	benefit	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 arrangement	nmod
13	termed	term	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 mutualism	amod
14	mutualism	mutualism	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 benefit	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	remove	present	the birds	ticks and flies	vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tick=Theme
2	term	participle			vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	arrange			mutual benefit and termed mutualism	nom arrangement «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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/42-the-capybara/e3/