Exam question 4 · Swamps, marshes, mangroves and bogs

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the function of wetlands in respect of flooding.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern, respect · To what, where: response, function, flooding

This is exam question 4 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 function	det
11	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 wetlands	case
13	wetlands	wetland	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 function	nmod
14	in	in	ADP	_	15 respect	case
15	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 wetlands	nmod
16	of	of	ADP	_	17 flooding	case
17	flooding	flooding	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 respect	nmod
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the function of wetlands in respect of flooding		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus function=Experiencer
4	respect			flooding		nom respect «cognition 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

They exert no influence whatsoever upon flooding

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 exert	nsubj
2	exert	exert	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	4 influence	det
4	influence	influence	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 exert	obj
5	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	2 exert	advmod
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 flooding	case
7	flooding	flooding	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 exert	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exert	present	They	no influence				upon flooding; whatsoever property	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent influence=Theme

Option 2

They cause precipitation to fall in neighbouring regions instead of upon the wetland

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 cause	nsubj
2	cause	cause	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	precipitation	precipitation	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 cause	obj
4	to	to	PART	_	5 fall	mark
5	fall	fall	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 cause	xcomp
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 regions	case
7	neighbouring	neighbour	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 regions	amod
8	regions	region	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 fall	obl
9	instead	instead	ADV	ExtPos=ADP	13 wetland	case
10	of	of	ADP	_	9 instead	fixed
11	upon	upon	ADP	_	9 instead	fixed
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 wetland	det
13	wetland	wetland	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 cause	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	cause	present	They	precipitation		instead the wetland	tree rules
2	fall	to-infinitive	precipitation not said here		neighbouring regions		vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in region=Location
3	neighbour	gerund					tree rules

Option 3

They accelerate the passage of flood water towards settlements

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 accelerate	nsubj
2	accelerate	accelerate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 passage	det
4	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 accelerate	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 water	case
6	flood	flood	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 water	compound
7	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 passage	nmod
8	towards	towards	ADP	_	9 settlements	case
9	settlements	settlement	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 accelerate	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	accelerate	present	They	the passage of flood water				towards settlements	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent passage=Patient
2	pass		flood water						nom passage «act intransitive»: of=agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

They absorb flood water and subsequently release it gradually

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 absorb	nsubj
2	absorb	absorb	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	flood	flood	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 water	compound
4	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 absorb	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 release	cc
6	subsequently	subsequently	ADV	_	7 release	advmod
7	release	release	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 absorb	conj
8	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 release	obj
9	gradually	gradually	ADV	_	7 release	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	absorb	present	They	flood water					vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Goal water=Theme
2	release	present	They not said here	water				gradually, subsequently property	vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Causer it=Source

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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