---
title: Identify the means by which worker ants guide their nestmates to a s… — Ants: colonies, queens, farmers and li… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the means by which worker ants guide their nestmates to a source of food. Exam question 1 of lesson 238 «Ants: colonies, queens, farmers and living bridges» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's cho
---

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# Exam question 1 · Ants: colonies, queens, farmers and living bridges

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the means by which worker ants guide their nestmates to a source of food.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, the, worker ants · **What happens:** identify, mean, guide · **To what, where:** nestmates · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is exam question 1 of lesson 238 «Ants: colonies, queens, farmers and living bridges» 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/238-ants-colonies-queens-farmers-and-living-bridges/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:238-ants-colonies-queens-farmers-and-living-bridges:e1:1
# text = Identify the means by which worker ants guide their nestmates to a source of food.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	nsubj	_	_
3	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	ccomp	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	obl	_	_
6	worker	worker	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	ants	ant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	guide	guide	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
9	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	nestmates	nestmate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	source	source	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | 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 | **guide** | present | worker ants | ants's nestmates |  |  |  | to a source of food | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent nestmate=Theme by which=Destination |

<!-- .note -->
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 {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Visual signals emitted by the queen

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:238-ants-colonies-queens-farmers-and-living-bridges:e1:o1:1
# text = Visual signals emitted by the queen
1	Visual	visual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	signals	signal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
3	emitted	emit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	queen	queen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **emit** | participle |  | Visual signals *not said here* |  |  |  | by the queen | vn substance\_emission-43.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Source |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Maps scratched into the soil

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:238-ants-colonies-queens-farmers-and-living-bridges:e1:o2:1
# text = Maps scratched into the soil
1	Maps	map	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	scratched	scratch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
3	into	into	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	soil	soil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **scratch** | participle | Maps |  |  |  |  | into the soil | vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent into soil=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Vocal calls of high frequency

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:238-ants-colonies-queens-farmers-and-living-bridges:e1:o3:1
# text = Vocal calls of high frequency
1	Vocal	vocal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	calls	call	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	frequency	frequency	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** |  |  | high frequency |  |  |  |  | nom call «communication transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Trails of chemical scent designated pheromones

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:238-ants-colonies-queens-farmers-and-living-bridges:e1:o4:1
# text = Trails of chemical scent designated pheromones
1	Trails	trail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	chemical	chemical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	scent	scent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
5	designated	designate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	amod	_	_
6	pheromones	pheromone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **designate** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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**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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