Exam question 1 · Swamps, marshes, mangroves and bogs

Identify the principal reason for which certain mangrove species develop erect aerial roots.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, certain mangrove species · What happens: identify, develop · To what, where: principal reason, erect aerial roots

This is exam question 1 of lesson 11 «Swamps, marshes, mangroves and bogs» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 develop	obl
7	certain	certain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 species	amod
8	mangrove	mangrove	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 species	compound
9	species	species	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 develop	nsubj
10	develop	develop	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl:relcl
11	erect	erect	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 roots	amod
12	aerial	aerial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 roots	amod
13	roots	root	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 develop	obj
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	develop	present	certain mangrove species	erect aerial roots				for the principal reason	vn build-26.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent root=Product for which=Beneficiary

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 · ✓ the right answer

To obtain air, the saturated saline mud being almost devoid of oxygen

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 obtain	mark
2	obtain	obtain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	11 devoid	advcl
3	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 obtain	obj
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 mud	punct
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 mud	det
6	saturated	saturate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 mud	amod
7	saline	saline	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 mud	compound
8	mud	mud	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 air	conj
9	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	11 devoid	cop
10	almost	almost	ADV	_	11 devoid	advmod
11	devoid	devoid	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 oxygen	case
13	oxygen	oxygen	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 devoid	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	obtain	to-infinitive	air and the saturated saline mud		vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset air=Theme
2	saturate	participle			vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme
3	is	gerund		of oxygen; almost, devoid property	tree rules

Option 2

To repel herbivorous mammals from the base of the trunk

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 repel	mark
2	repel	repel	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	herbivorous	herbivorous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 mammals	amod
4	mammals	mammal	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 repel	obj
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 base	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 base	det
7	base	base	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 repel	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 trunk	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 trunk	det
10	trunk	trunk	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 base	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	repel	to-infinitive		herbivorous mammals		the base of the trunk			vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus mammal=Experiencer

Option 3

To absorb fresh rainwater prior to its contamination by the salt of the tide

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 absorb	mark
2	absorb	absorb	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	fresh	fresh	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 absorb	xcomp
4	rainwater	rainwat	ADV	Degree=Cmp	2 absorb	advmod
5	prior	prior	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	8 contamination	case
6	to	to	ADP	_	5 prior	fixed
7	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 contamination	nmod:poss
8	contamination	contamination	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 absorb	obl
9	by	by	ADP	_	11 salt	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 salt	det
11	salt	salt	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 absorb	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 tide	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 tide	det
14	tide	tide	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 salt	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	absorb	to-infinitive						prior its contamination; by the salt of the tide; fresh, rainwat property	vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Goal
2	contaminate		its = it						nom contamination «state transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

To capture marine organisms as a source of nourishment

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 capture	mark
2	capture	capture	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	marine	marine	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 organisms	amod
4	organisms	organism	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 capture	obj
5	as	as	ADP	_	7 source	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 source	det
7	source	source	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 capture	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 nourishment	case
9	nourishment	nourishment	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 source	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	capture	to-infinitive		marine organisms				as a source of nourishment	vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent organism=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.

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