Exam question 4 · How animals talk

Ascertain the means whereby ants direct their fellows to a source of food.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: ants · What happens: ascertain, mean, direct · To what, where: fellows · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 4 of lesson 50 «How animals talk» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	3 means	nsubj
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 means	nsubj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	whereby	whereby	ADV	PronType=Int	6 direct	advmod
5	ants	ant	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 direct	nsubj
6	direct	direct	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 means	ccomp
7	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 fellows	nmod:poss
8	fellows	fellow	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 direct	obj
9	to	to	ADP	_	11 source	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 source	det
11	source	source	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 direct	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 food	case
13	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 source	nmod
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 means	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	infinitive				vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
2	mean	present				vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	direct	present	ants	ants's fellows	to a source of food; whereby property	vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent fellow=Theme

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

By depositing a trail of chemical scent, termed pheromones

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 depositing	mark
2	depositing	deposit	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	9 termed	advcl
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 trail	det
4	trail	trail	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 depositing	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 scent	case
6	chemical	chemical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 scent	amod
7	scent	scent	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 trail	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 depositing	punct
9	termed	term	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 pheromones	amod
10	pheromones	pheromone	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	deposit	gerund		a trail of chemical scent					vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent trail=Theme
2	term	participle							vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 2

By means of loud calls audible at great distance

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	2 means	case
2	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 calls	case
4	loud	loud	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 calls	amod
5	calls	call	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 means	obl
6	audible	audible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 means	xcomp
7	at	at	ADP	_	9 distance	case
8	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 distance	amod
9	distance	distance	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 audible	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mean	present						of loud calls; audible property	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent

Option 3

By flashes of light emitted from the abdomen in a fixed sequence

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	2 flashes	case
2	flashes	flash	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 light	case
4	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 flashes	nmod
5	emitted	emit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 flashes	acl
6	from	from	ADP	_	8 abdomen	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 abdomen	det
8	abdomen	abdomen	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 emitted	obl
9	in	in	ADP	_	12 sequence	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 sequence	det
11	fixed	fix	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 sequence	amod
12	sequence	sequence	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 emitted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	emit	participle		flashes of light not said here	the abdomen	in a fixed sequence	vn substance_emission-43.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Source
2	fix	participle					vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
3	flash		light				nom flash «event intransitive»: of=agent

Option 4

By a dance performed upon the comb

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	3 dance	case
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 dance	det
3	dance	dance	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	performed	perform	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 dance	acl
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 comb	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 comb	det
7	comb	comb	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 performed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	perform	participle		a dance not said here				upon the comb	vn performance-26.7 «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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/50-how-animals-talk/e4/