Exam question 4 · How animals defend themselves

Ascertain the formation adopted by a herd of musk oxen upon the approach of wolves.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, wolves · What happens: ascertain, adopt, approach · To what, where: formation

This is exam question 4 of lesson 53 «How animals defend themselves» 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	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 formation	det
3	formation	formation	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	adopted	adopt	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 formation	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 herd	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 herd	det
7	herd	herd	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 adopted	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 oxen	case
9	musk	musk	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 oxen	compound
10	oxen	ox	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 herd	nmod
11	upon	upon	ADP	_	13 approach	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 approach	det
13	approach	approach	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 oxen	nmod
14	of	of	ADP	_	15 wolves	case
15	wolves	wolf	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 approach	nmod
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the formation		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent formation=Topic
2	adopt	participle		the formation not said here	by a herd of musk oxen upon the approach of wolves	vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	approach		wolves			nom approach «act intransitive»: of=agent

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

A concealment of the herd within snow drifts

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 concealment	det
2	concealment	concealment	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 herd	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 herd	det
5	herd	herd	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 concealment	nmod
6	within	within	ADP	_	8 drifts	case
7	snow	snow	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 drifts	compound
8	drifts	drift	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 concealment	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	conceal			the herd				within snow drifts	nom concealment «state transitive»: of=patient within=obl

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

A ring facing outward with the young enclosed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 ring	det
2	ring	ring	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 enclosed	nsubj
3	facing	face	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 ring	acl
4	outward	outward	ADV	_	3 facing	advmod
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 young	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 young	det
7	young	young	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 facing	obl
8	enclosed	enclose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	face	gerund	a ring not said here					with the young; outward property	vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent with young=Theme
2	enclose	participle	a ring						vn contiguous_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme

Option 3

A dispersal of individuals at random

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 dispersal	det
2	dispersal	dispersal	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 individuals	case
4	individuals	individual	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 dispersal	nmod
5	at	at	ADP	_	6 random	case
6	random	random	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 dispersal	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	disperse			individuals		random			nom dispersal «act transitive»: of=patient at=place

Option 4

A single file retreating at speed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 file	det
2	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 file	amod
3	file	file	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	retreating	retreat	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 file	acl
5	at	at	ADP	_	6 speed	case
6	speed	speed	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 retreating	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	retreat	gerund	a single file not said here			speed			vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute

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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