Exam question 1 · Wild animals and tall tales

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the conduct of the ostrich when threatened?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, threaten, conduct · To what, where: conduct, ostrich

This is exam question 1 of lesson 8 «Wild animals and tall tales» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 conduct	det
10	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 ostrich	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 ostrich	det
13	ostrich	ostrich	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 conduct	nmod
14	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	15 threatened	advmod
15	threatened	threaten	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 characterises	advcl
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the conduct of the ostrich	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	threaten	participle			vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer
4	conduct		the ostrich		nom conduct «act transitive»: of=patient

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

It feigns death by burying its whole body

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 feigns	nsubj
2	feigns	feign	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 feigns	obj
4	by	by	SCONJ	_	5 burying	mark
5	burying	bury	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 feigns	advcl
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 body	nmod:poss
7	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 body	amod
8	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 burying	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	feign	present	It	death					vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent death=Patient
2	bury	gerund		death's whole body					vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent body=Theme

Option 2

It retreats into a burrow beneath its nest

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 retreats	nsubj
2	retreats	retreat	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	into	into	ADP	_	5 burrow	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 burrow	det
5	burrow	burrow	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 retreats	obl
6	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	8 nest	case
7	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 nest	nmod:poss
8	nest	nest	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 retreats	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	retreat	present	It			a burrow		beneath burrow's nest	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme into burrow=Initial_Location

Option 3

It conceals its head beneath the sand

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 conceals	nsubj
2	conceals	conceal	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 head	nmod:poss
4	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 conceals	obj
5	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	7 sand	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 sand	det
7	sand	sand	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 conceals	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	conceal	present	It	its head		the sand			vn concealment-16 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent head=Patient beneath sand=Location

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It lies flat upon the ground or flees at considerable speed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 lies	nsubj
2	lies	lie	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	flat	flat	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 lies	xcomp
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	6 ground	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 ground	det
6	ground	ground	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 lies	obl
7	or	or	CCONJ	_	8 flees	cc
8	flees	flee	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 lies	conj
9	at	at	ADP	_	11 speed	case
10	considerable	considerable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 speed	amod
11	speed	speed	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 flees	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lie	present	It			the ground		flat property	vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent upon ground=Location
2	flee	present				considerable speed			vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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/8-wild-animals-and-tall-tales/e1/