Exam question 1 · Parrots, flamingos and the bird of prey show

Identify the principal reason for which flamingos maintained in captivity are provided with supplementary pigment.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, maintain, provide · To what, where: principal reason, flamingos, captivity

This is exam question 1 of lesson 94 «Parrots, flamingos and the bird of prey show» 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 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 provided	obl
7	flamingos	flamingo	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 provided	nsubj:pass
8	maintained	maintain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 flamingos	acl
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 captivity	case
10	captivity	captivity	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 maintained	obl
11	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 provided	aux:pass
12	provided	provide	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 reason	acl:relcl
13	with	with	ADP	_	15 pigment	case
14	supplementary	supplementary	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 pigment	amod
15	pigment	pigment	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 provided	obl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	maintain	participle		flamingos not said here	captivity		vn declare-29.4-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Agent
3	provide	present · passive		flamingos		for the principal reason; with supplementary pigment	vn ensure-99 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: subject=Theme for which=Beneficiary

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 pigment strengthens the long, thin legs upon which they stand

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 pigment	det
2	pigment	pigment	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 strengthens	nsubj
3	strengthens	strengthen	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 legs	det
5	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 legs	amod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 long	punct
7	thin	thin	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 legs	amod
8	legs	leg	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 strengthens	obj
9	upon	upon	ADP	_	10 which	case
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 stand	obl
11	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 stand	nsubj
12	stand	stand	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 legs	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	strengthen	present	the pigment	the long thin legs					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent leg=Patient
2	stand	present	legs = leg			the long thin legs			vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent upon which=Location

Option 2

The pigment accelerates the hatching of eggs

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 pigment	det
2	pigment	pigment	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 accelerates	nsubj
3	accelerates	accelerate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 hatching	det
5	hatching	hatching	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 accelerates	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 eggs	case
7	eggs	egg	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 hatching	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	accelerate	present	the pigment	the hatching of eggs					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent hatching=Patient
2	hatch		eggs						nom hatching «process intransitive»: of=agent

Option 3

The pigment prevents them from flying

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 pigment	det
2	pigment	pigment	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 prevents	nsubj
3	prevents	prevent	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 prevents	obj
5	from	from	SCONJ	_	6 flying	mark
6	flying	fly	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 prevents	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prevent	present	the pigment	them = they					vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer they=Theme
2	fly	gerund	the pigment not said here						vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Their pink colouring derives from pigments obtained in the diet

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 colouring	nmod:poss
2	pink	pink	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 colouring	amod
3	colouring	colouring	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 derives	nsubj
4	derives	derive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	from	from	ADP	_	6 pigments	case
6	pigments	pigment	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 derives	obl
7	obtained	obtain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 pigments	acl
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 diet	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 diet	det
10	diet	diet	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 obtained	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	derive	present	Their pink colouring			pigments			vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: agent=Agent from pigment=Material
2	obtain	participle		pigments not said here		the diet			vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset

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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