Exam question 4 · Finding Nemo: real blue tangs, sea turtles and reef creatu…

Ascertain the reason for which sea turtles are observed to ingest floating plastic bags.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, observe, ingest, float · To what, where: reason, sea turtles, floating plastic bags

This is exam question 4 of lesson 133 «Finding Nemo: real blue tangs, sea turtles and reef creatures» 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 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 observed	obl
6	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 turtles	compound
7	turtles	turtle	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 observed	nsubj:pass
8	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 observed	aux:pass
9	observed	observe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 reason	acl:relcl
10	to	to	PART	_	11 ingest	mark
11	ingest	ingest	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 observed	xcomp
12	floating	float	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	14 bags	amod
13	plastic	plastic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 bags	amod
14	bags	bag	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 ingest	obj
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	observe	present · passive		sea turtles	for the reason	tree rules
3	ingest	to-infinitive		floating plastic bags		vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Goal bag=Theme
4	float	gerund				vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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

Sea turtles employ such bags in the construction of nests

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 turtles	compound
2	turtles	turtle	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 employ	nsubj
3	employ	employ	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 bags	amod
5	bags	bag	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 employ	obj
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 construction	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 construction	det
8	construction	construction	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 employ	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 nests	case
10	nests	nest	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 construction	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	employ	present	Sea turtles	such bags		the construction of nests			vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bag=Theme
2	construct			nests					nom construction «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

Such bags possess a sweet taste attractive to sea turtles

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 bags	amod
2	bags	bag	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 possess	nsubj
3	possess	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 taste	det
5	sweet	sweet	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 taste	amod
6	taste	taste	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 possess	obj
7	attractive	attractive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 taste	amod
8	to	to	ADP	_	10 turtles	case
9	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 turtles	compound
10	turtles	turtle	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 attractive	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	present	Such bags	a sweet taste					vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot taste=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Such bags resemble jellyfish, which form part of the diet of sea turtles

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 bags	amod
2	bags	bag	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 resemble	nsubj
3	resemble	resemble	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	jellyfish	jellyfish	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 resemble	obj
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 form	punct
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 form	nsubj
7	form	form	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 jellyfish	acl:relcl
8	part	part	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 form	obj
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 diet	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 diet	det
11	diet	diet	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 part	nmod
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 turtles	case
13	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 turtles	compound
14	turtles	turtle	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 diet	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	resemble	present	Such bags	jellyfish					tree rules
2	form	present	jellyfish	part of the diet of sea turtles					vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location part=Theme

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

Sea turtles mistake such bags for beds of seaweed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 turtles	compound
2	turtles	turtle	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 mistake	nsubj
3	mistake	mistake	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 bags	amod
5	bags	bag	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 mistake	obj
6	for	for	ADP	_	7 beds	case
7	beds	bed	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 mistake	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 seaweed	case
9	seaweed	seaweed	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 beds	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mistake	present	Sea turtles	such bags				for beds of seaweed	tree rules

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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