Exam question 4 · The polar zone: polar bears

State the ancestry of the polar bear as presently understood by scientists.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: state, understand · To what, where: ancestry

This is exam question 4 of lesson 105 «The polar zone: polar bears» 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	State	state	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 ancestry	det
3	ancestry	ancestry	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 State	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 bear	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 bear	det
6	polar	polar	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 bear	amod
7	bear	bear	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 ancestry	nmod
8	as	as	ADV	_	10 understood	advmod
9	presently	presently	ADV	_	10 understood	advmod
10	understood	understand	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 State	advcl
11	by	by	ADP	_	12 scientists	case
12	scientists	scientist	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 understood	obl
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 State	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	state speech: other	imperative	you not said here	the ancestry of the polar bear					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent ancestry=Topic
2	understand	participle	you not said here					by scientists; presently property	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer

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

It evolved from the giant panda in the recent past

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 evolved	nsubj
2	evolved	evolve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	6 panda	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 panda	det
5	giant	giant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 panda	amod
6	panda	panda	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 evolved	obl
7	in	in	ADP	_	10 past	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 past	det
9	recent	recent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 past	amod
10	past	past	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 evolved	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	evolve	past	It			the giant panda		in the recent past	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in past=Location

Option 2

It descends from the seal upon which it now preys, some millions of years ago

The tree, 15 words

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 descends	nsubj
2	descends	descend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	5 seal	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 seal	det
5	seal	seal	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 descends	obl
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 which	case
7	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 preys	nsubj
8	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 preys	nsubj
9	now	now	ADV	PronType=Dem	10 preys	advmod
10	preys	prey	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 descends	parataxis
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 millions	punct
12	some	some	DET	PronType=Ind	13 millions	det
13	millions	million	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 preys	conj
14	of	of	ADP	_	15 years	case
15	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 millions	nmod
16	ago	ago	ADV	_	2 descends	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	descend	present	It			the seal		ago property	vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from seal=Location
2	prey						now		tree rules

Option 3

It has existed unchanged since the age of the dinosaurs

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	4 unchanged	nsubj:pass
2	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 unchanged	aux
3	existed	exist	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	4 unchanged	aux:pass
4	unchanged	unchang	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	since	since	ADP	_	7 age	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 age	det
7	age	age	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 unchanged	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 dinosaurs	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 dinosaurs	det
10	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 age	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	unchang	present · perfect · passive		It			since the age of the dinosaurs		tree rules

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

It evolved from the brown bear, probably a few hundred thousand years ago

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 evolved	nsubj
2	evolved	evolve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	6 bear	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 bear	det
5	brown	brown	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 bear	amod
6	bear	bear	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 evolved	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 years	punct
8	probably	probably	ADV	_	12 thousand	advmod
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 hundred	det
10	few	few	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 hundred	amod
11	hundred	hundred	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	12 thousand	compound
12	thousand	thousand	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	13 years	nummod
13	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 evolved	obl:unmarked
14	ago	ago	ADV	_	13 years	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	evolve	past	It				year	from the brown bear	vn grow-26.2.1 «NP.product V PP.patient»: agent=Product from bear=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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