Exam question 3 · Ice Age: real woolly mammoths

Ascertain the agency by which the bodies of mammoths have been preserved nearly intact in Siberia.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, agency · What happens: ascertain, preserve · To what, where: agency, bodies, Siberia

This is exam question 3 of lesson 130 «Ice Age: real woolly mammoths» 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 agency	det
3	agency	agency	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 preserved	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 bodies	det
7	bodies	body	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 preserved	nsubj:pass
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 mammoths	case
9	mammoths	mammoth	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 bodies	nmod
10	have	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 preserved	aux
11	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	12 preserved	aux:pass
12	preserved	preserve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 agency	acl:relcl
13	nearly	nearly	ADV	_	14 intact	advmod
14	intact	intact	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 preserved	xcomp
15	in	in	ADP	_	16 Siberia	case
16	Siberia	Siberia	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 preserved	obl
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the agency					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent agency=Topic
2	preserve	present · perfect · passive	the agency	the bodies of mammoths		Siberia		intact property	vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=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 enclosure of the bodies within resin from trees

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 enclosure	det
2	enclosure	enclosure	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 bodies	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 bodies	det
5	bodies	body	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 enclosure	nmod
6	within	within	ADP	_	7 resin	case
7	resin	resin	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 enclosure	nmod
8	from	from	ADP	_	9 trees	case
9	trees	tree	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 resin	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Permanently frozen ground, designated permafrost, which arrests decay

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Permanently	permanently	ADV	_	2 frozen	advmod
2	frozen	freeze	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 ground	amod
3	ground	ground	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 decay	nsubj
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 permafrost	punct
5	designated	designate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 permafrost	amod
6	permafrost	permafrost	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 ground	conj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 decay	punct
8	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 decay	obj
9	arrests	arrest	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 decay	nsubj
10	decay	decay	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	freeze	participle		permanently property	vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
2	designate	participle			vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	decay	present	frozen ground and designated permafrost		tree rules

Option 3

The conversion of the bodies into stone over a brief interval

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 conversion	det
2	conversion	conversion	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 bodies	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 bodies	det
5	bodies	body	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 conversion	nmod
6	into	into	ADP	_	7 stone	case
7	stone	stone	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 conversion	nmod
8	over	over	ADP	_	11 interval	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 interval	det
10	brief	brief	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 interval	amod
11	interval	interval	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 conversion	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	convert			the bodies		stone			nom conversion «event transitive»: of=patient into=place

Option 4

The deliberate embalming of the bodies by the Ice Age peoples who hunted them

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 embalming	det
2	deliberate	deliberate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 embalming	amod
3	embalming	embalming	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 bodies	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 bodies	det
6	bodies	body	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 embalming	nmod
7	by	by	ADP	_	11 peoples	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 peoples	det
9	Ice	Ice	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 Age	compound
10	Age	Age	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 peoples	compound
11	peoples	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 bodies	nmod
12	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 hunted	nsubj
13	hunted	hunt	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	11 peoples	acl:relcl
14	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 hunted	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hunt	past	the Age peoples	peoples = people					vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=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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