Exam question 2 · Thinking about noticing

Identify the means by which the brain determines the direction from which a sound originates.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, the, brain, sound · What happens: identify, mean, determine, originate · To what, where: direction

This is exam question 2 of lesson 20 «Thinking about noticing» of the everyday 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	3 means	nsubj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Identify	ccomp
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 determines	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 brain	det
7	brain	brain	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 determines	nsubj
8	determines	determine	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 means	parataxis
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 direction	det
10	direction	direction	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 determines	obj
11	from	from	ADP	_	12 which	case
12	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	15 originates	obl
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 sound	det
14	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 originates	nsubj
15	originates	originate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 direction	acl:relcl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	mean	present	the			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
3	determine	present	the brain	the direction		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent direction=Topic
4	originate	present	a sound		the direction	vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

By comparing the sound as it arrives at the two ears

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 comparing	mark
2	comparing	compare	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 sound	det
4	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 comparing	obj
5	as	as	SCONJ	_	7 arrives	mark
6	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 arrives	nsubj
7	arrives	arrive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 comparing	advcl
8	at	at	ADP	_	11 ears	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 ears	det
10	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	11 ears	nummod
11	ears	ear	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 arrives	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	compare	gerund		the sound					vn amalgamate-22.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sound=Patient
2	arrive	present	sound			the two ears			vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

By measuring the colour of the sound

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 measuring	mark
2	measuring	measure	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 colour	det
4	colour	colour	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 measuring	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 sound	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 sound	det
7	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 colour	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	measure	gerund		the colour of the sound					vn register-54.1-2-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme colour=Value

Option 3

By detecting the vibration of the floor beneath the feet

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 detecting	mark
2	detecting	detect	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 vibration	det
4	vibration	vibration	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 detecting	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 floor	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 floor	det
7	floor	floor	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 vibration	nmod
8	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	10 feet	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 feet	det
10	feet	foot	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 detecting	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	detect	gerund		the vibration of the floor				beneath the feet	vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer vibration=Stimulus
2	vibrate		the floor						nom vibration «act intransitive»: of=agent

Option 4

By relying solely upon the sense of smell

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 relying	mark
2	relying	rely	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	solely	solely	ADV	_	2 relying	advmod
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	6 sense	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 sense	det
6	sense	sense	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 relying	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 smell	case
8	smell	smell	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 sense	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rely	gerund						upon the sense of smell; solely property	vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S_ING»: agent=Agent
2	sense			smell					nom sense «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/everyday/20-noticing-like-a-cat/e2/