Exam question 4 · Back to the wild: animals that zoos returned to nature

Ascertain the cause of the decline of Partula snails upon the islands of the Pacific.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, Partula snails · What happens: ascertain, cause, decline · To what, where: cause, decline

This is exam question 4 of lesson 114 «Back to the wild: animals that zoos returned to nature» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 cause	det
3	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 decline	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 decline	det
6	decline	decline	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 cause	nmod
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 snails	case
8	Partula	Partula	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 snails	compound
9	snails	snail	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 decline	nmod
10	upon	upon	ADP	_	12 islands	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 islands	det
12	islands	island	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 snails	nmod
13	of	of	ADP	_	15 Pacific	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 Pacific	det
15	Pacific	Pacific	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 islands	nmod
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the cause of the decline of Partula snails upon the islands of the Pacific	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cause=Topic
2	cause			the decline of Partula snails upon the islands of the Pacific	nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient
3	decline		Partula snails upon the islands of the Pacific		nom decline «process intransitive»: of=agent

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

The eruption of volcanoes upon every island

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 eruption	det
2	eruption	eruption	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 volcanoes	case
4	volcanoes	volcano	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 eruption	nmod
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 island	case
6	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	7 island	det
7	island	island	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 eruption	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	erupt		volcanoes					upon every island	nom eruption «event intransitive»: of=agent upon=obl

Option 2

Competition for food with the water voles released upon the islands by British zoos

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Competition	competition	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	for	for	ADP	_	3 food	case
3	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Competition	nmod
4	with	with	ADP	_	7 voles	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 voles	det
6	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 voles	compound
7	voles	vole	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Competition	nmod
8	released	release	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 voles	acl
9	upon	upon	ADP	_	11 islands	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 islands	det
11	islands	island	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 released	obl
12	by	by	ADP	_	14 zoos	case
13	British	British	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 zoos	amod
14	zoos	zoo	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 released	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	release	participle		the water voles not said here				upon the islands; by British zoos	vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Causer

Option 3

The collection of shells by visiting tourists

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 collection	det
2	collection	collection	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 shells	case
4	shells	shell	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 collection	nmod
5	by	by	SCONJ	_	6 visiting	mark
6	visiting	visit	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 collection	acl
7	tourists	tourist	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 visiting	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	visit	gerund	the collection of shells not said here	tourists					vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tourist=Co-Agent

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

Predation by a carnivorous snail introduced to control another pest species

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Predation	predation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	by	by	ADP	_	5 snail	case
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 snail	det
4	carnivorous	carnivorous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 snail	amod
5	snail	snail	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Predation	nmod
6	introduced	introduce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 snail	acl
7	to	to	PART	_	8 control	mark
8	control	control	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 introduced	advcl
9	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	11 species	det
10	pest	pest	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 species	compound
11	species	species	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 control	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	introduce	participle		a carnivorous snail not said here	vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient
2	control	to-infinitive		another pest species	vn enforce-63 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent species=Theme
3	predate		a carnivorous snail		nom predation «act transitive»: by=agent

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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/114-back-to-the-wild/e4/