Exam question 3 · Mountains: life as you climb higher

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the treeline?

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

This is exam question 3 of lesson 13 «Mountains: life as you climb higher» 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	10 treeline	det
10	treeline	treeline	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	?	?	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 treeline				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

A row of trees deliberately planted by foresters along each slope of a mountain

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 row	det
2	row	row	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 planted	nsubj:pass
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 trees	case
4	trees	tree	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 row	nmod
5	deliberately	deliberately	ADV	_	6 planted	advmod
6	planted	plant	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	by	by	ADP	_	8 foresters	case
8	foresters	forester	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 planted	obl
9	along	along	ADP	_	11 slope	case
10	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	11 slope	det
11	slope	slope	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 planted	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 mountain	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 mountain	det
14	mountain	mountain	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 slope	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	plant	participle · passive	foresters	a row of trees		each slope of a mountain		deliberately property	vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent subject=Theme along slope=Destination

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The altitude above which the season is too brief and cold for trees to grow

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 altitude	det
2	altitude	altitude	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 brief	nsubj
3	above	above	ADP	_	6 season	case
4	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 season	nsubj
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 season	det
6	season	season	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 altitude	nmod
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 brief	cop
8	too	too	ADV	_	9 brief	advmod
9	brief	brief	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 cold	cc
11	cold	cold	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 brief	conj
12	for	for	ADP	_	13 trees	case
13	trees	tree	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 brief	obl
14	to	to	PART	_	15 grow	mark
15	grow	grow	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 brief	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	is	present	the altitude above the season	for trees; brief property	tree rules
2	be		the altitude above the season not said here		tree rules
3	grow	to-infinitive	the altitude above the season not said here		vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3

The point at which the soil becomes poisonous to vegetation

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 point	det
2	point	point	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	at	at	ADP	_	4 which	case
4	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 becomes	obl
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 soil	det
6	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 becomes	nsubj
7	becomes	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 point	parataxis
8	poisonous	poisonous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 becomes	xcomp
9	to	to	ADP	_	10 vegetation	case
10	vegetation	vegetation	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 becomes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	become	present	the soil			the point		to vegetation; poisonous property	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient

Option 4

The boundary beyond which mountain goats consume all trees

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 boundary	det
2	boundary	boundary	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	beyond	beyond	ADP	_	4 which	case
4	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 consume	obl
5	mountain	mountain	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 goats	compound
6	goats	goat	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 consume	nsubj
7	consume	consume	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 boundary	acl:relcl
8	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	9 trees	det
9	trees	tree	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 consume	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	consume	present	mountain goats	all trees				beyond the boundary	vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tree=Asset

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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