Exam question 3 · Birds and baby animals

Identify the means by which young birds acquire the capacity of flight.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, the, young birds · What happens: identify, mean, acquire · To what, where: capacity · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 3 of lesson 10 «Birds and baby animals» of the myths 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 acquire	obl
6	young	young	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 birds	amod
7	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 acquire	nsubj
8	acquire	acquire	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 means	ccomp
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 capacity	det
10	capacity	capacity	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 acquire	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 flight	case
12	flight	flight	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 capacity	nmod
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	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 clause=Topic
3	acquire	present	young birds	the capacity of flight	vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent capacity=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

Instruction delivered while still within the egg

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Instruction	instruction	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 delivered	nsubj
2	delivered	deliver	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	while	while	SCONJ	_	4 still	mark
4	still	still	ADV	_	2 delivered	advcl
5	within	within	ADP	_	7 egg	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 egg	det
7	egg	egg	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 delivered	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	deliver	past	Instruction					within the egg	vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 2

Being carried aloft and released by the father

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 carried	aux:pass
2	carried	carry	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
3	aloft	aloft	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 carried	xcomp
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 released	cc
5	released	release	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 carried	conj
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 father	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 father	det
8	father	father	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 released	obl:agent

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	carry	gerund · passive						aloft property	vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»
2	release	participle							vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Causer

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Instinct and practice, with encouragement from the parents

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Instinct	instinct	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	and	and	CCONJ	_	3 practice	cc
3	practice	practice	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Instinct	conj
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 encouragement	punct
5	with	with	ADP	_	6 encouragement	case
6	encouragement	encouragement	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Instinct	conj
7	from	from	ADP	_	9 parents	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 parents	det
9	parents	parent	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 encouragement	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4

Being pushed from the nest by the mother on a fixed day of the year

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 pushed	aux:pass
2	pushed	push	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	5 nest	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 nest	det
5	nest	nest	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 pushed	obl
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 mother	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 mother	det
8	mother	mother	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 pushed	obl
9	on	on	ADP	_	12 day	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 day	det
11	fixed	fix	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 day	amod
12	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 pushed	obl
13	of	of	ADP	_	15 year	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 year	det
15	year	year	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 day	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	push	gerund · passive	the mother				day	from the nest	vn split-23.2 «NP V PP.co-patient»: agent=Patient from nest=Co-Patient
2	fix	participle							vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=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/myths/10-birds-and-baby-animals/e3/