Exam question 4 · Ice Age: real sabre-tooths, ground sloths, glyptodonts and…
Ascertain the cause of the lowered sea level which prevailed during the Ice Age.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, lowered sea level · What happens: ascertain, lower, prevail, cause · To what, where: cause, lowered sea level
This is exam question 4 of lesson 131 «Ice Age: real sabre-tooths, ground sloths, glyptodonts and dodos» 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 | _ | 8 level | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 level | det |
| 6 | lowered | lower | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 8 level | amod |
| 7 | sea | sea | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 level | compound |
| 8 | level | level | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 cause | nmod |
| 9 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 10 prevailed | nsubj |
| 10 | prevailed | prevail | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 level | acl:relcl |
| 11 | during | during | ADP | _ | 14 Age | case |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 Age | det |
| 13 | Ice | Ice | PROPN | Number=Sing | 14 Age | compound |
| 14 | Age | Age | PROPN | Number=Sing | 10 prevailed | obl |
| 15 | . | . | 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 cause of the lowered sea level | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | lower | participle | vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient | ||||||
| 3 | prevail | past | the lowered sea level | during the Ice Age | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 4 | cause | the lowered sea level | nom cause «event 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 · ✓ the right answer
A great volume of water was retained in the form of ice sheets upon the land
The tree, 16 words
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 volume | det |
| 2 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 volume | amod |
| 3 | volume | volume | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 retained | nsubj:pass |
| 4 | of | of | ADP | _ | 5 water | case |
| 5 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 volume | nmod |
| 6 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 retained | aux:pass |
| 7 | retained | retain | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 8 | in | in | ADP | _ | 10 form | case |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 form | det |
| 10 | form | form | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 retained | obl |
| 11 | of | of | ADP | _ | 13 sheets | case |
| 12 | ice | ice | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 sheets | compound |
| 13 | sheets | sheet | NOUN | Number=Plur | 10 form | nmod |
| 14 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 16 land | case |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 land | det |
| 16 | land | land | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 retained | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | retain | past · passive | a great volume of water | the form of ice sheets | upon the land | tree rules | |||
| 2 | form | ice sheets | nom form «communication transitive»: of=patient |
Option 2
The gravitational attraction of the Moon was greatly diminished
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 attraction | det |
| 2 | gravitational | gravitational | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 attraction | amod |
| 3 | attraction | attraction | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 diminished | nsubj:pass |
| 4 | of | of | ADP | _ | 6 Moon | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 Moon | det |
| 6 | Moon | Moon | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 attraction | nmod |
| 7 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 diminished | aux:pass |
| 8 | greatly | greatly | ADV | _ | 9 diminished | advmod |
| 9 | diminished | diminish | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | diminish | past · passive | the gravitational attraction of the Moon | greatly property | vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient | ||||
| 2 | attract | the Moon | nom attraction «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient |
Option 3
The oceans were consumed by evaporation into space
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 oceans | det |
| 2 | oceans | ocean | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 consumed | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 consumed | aux:pass |
| 4 | consumed | consume | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | by | by | ADP | _ | 6 evaporation | case |
| 6 | evaporation | evaporation | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 consumed | obl |
| 7 | into | into | ADP | _ | 8 space | case |
| 8 | space | space | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 consumed | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | consume | past · passive | evaporation | the oceans | space | vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Asset |
Option 4
The sea floor was elevated throughout the world
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 floor | det |
| 2 | sea | sea | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 floor | compound |
| 3 | floor | floor | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 elevated | nsubj |
| 4 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 elevated | aux:pass |
| 5 | elevated | elevate | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | throughout | throughout | ADP | _ | 8 world | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 world | det |
| 8 | world | world | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 elevated | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | elevate | past · passive | the sea floor | the world | vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme throughout world=Destination |
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/131-ice-age-sabre-tooths-ground-sloths-and-scrat/e4/