Exam question 2 · Sea lions, seals and otters

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the ecological role of the sea otter?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: ecological role

This is exam question 2 of lesson 100 «Sea lions, seals and otters» 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	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	11 role	det
10	ecological	ecological	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 role	amod
11	role	role	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	15 otter	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 otter	det
14	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 otter	compound
15	otter	otter	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 role	nmod
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the ecological role of the sea otter				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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 has no discernible effect upon its habitat

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 has	nsubj
2	has	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	5 effect	det
4	discernible	discernible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 effect	amod
5	effect	effect	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 has	obj
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	8 habitat	case
7	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 habitat	nmod:poss
8	habitat	habitat	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 effect	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	have	present	It	no discernible effect				upon effect's habitat	vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent effect=Patient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

By consuming sea urchins it preserves the kelp forests and is thus a keystone species

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 consuming	mark
2	consuming	consume	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 preserves	advcl
3	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 urchins	compound
4	urchins	urchin	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 consuming	obj
5	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 preserves	nsubj
6	preserves	preserve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 forests	det
8	kelp	kelp	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 forests	compound
9	forests	forest	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 preserves	obj
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 species	cc
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 species	cop
12	thus	thus	ADV	_	15 species	advmod
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 species	det
14	keystone	keystone	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 species	compound
15	species	species	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 preserves	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	consume	gerund		sea urchins		vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent urchin=Asset
2	preserve	present	it	the kelp forests		vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent forest=Beneficiary
3	is a	present		a keystone species	thus property	tree rules

Option 3

It fertilises the kelp with its droppings alone

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 fertilises	nsubj
2	fertilises	fertilis	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 kelp	det
4	kelp	kelp	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 fertilises	obj
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 droppings	case
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 droppings	nmod:poss
7	droppings	dropping	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 fertilises	obl
8	alone	alone	ADV	_	2 fertilises	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fertilis	present	It	the kelp				with kelp's droppings; alone property	tree rules

Option 4

It consumes the kelp forests in great quantity and thereby destroys them entirely

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 consumes	nsubj
2	consumes	consume	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 forests	det
4	kelp	kelp	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 forests	compound
5	forests	forest	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 consumes	obj
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 quantity	case
7	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 quantity	amod
8	quantity	quantity	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 forests	nmod
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 destroys	cc
10	thereby	thereby	ADV	_	11 destroys	advmod
11	destroys	destroy	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 consumes	conj
12	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 destroys	obj
13	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	11 destroys	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	consume	present	It	the kelp forests		great quantity			vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent forest=Asset
2	destroy	present		forests = forest				entirely, thereby property	vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=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.

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