Exam question 2 · Myth check: do lemmings jump off cliffs?

Identify the principal cause of the periodic collapse in the numbers of lemmings.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, cause · To what, where: principal cause, periodic collapse

This is exam question 2 of lesson 150 «Myth check: do lemmings jump off cliffs?» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 cause	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 cause	amod
4	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 collapse	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 collapse	det
7	periodic	periodic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 collapse	amod
8	collapse	collapse	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 cause	nmod
9	in	in	ADP	_	11 numbers	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 numbers	det
11	numbers	number	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 collapse	nmod
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 lemmings	case
13	lemmings	lemming	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 numbers	nmod
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal cause of the periodic collapse in the numbers of lemmings					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent cause=Theme
2	cause			the periodic collapse in the numbers of lemmings					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

A voluntary cessation of breeding

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 cessation	det
2	voluntary	voluntary	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 cessation	amod
3	cessation	cessation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 breeding	case
5	breeding	breeding	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 cessation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cease			breeding					nom cessation «event transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

A deliberate mass descent into the sea

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 descent	det
2	deliberate	deliberate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 descent	amod
3	mass	mass	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 descent	amod
4	descent	descent	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	into	into	ADP	_	7 sea	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 sea	det
7	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 descent	nmod

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

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The exhaustion of the food supply together with an increase in predators

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 exhaustion	det
2	exhaustion	exhaustion	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 supply	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 supply	det
5	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 supply	compound
6	supply	supply	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 exhaustion	nmod
7	together	together	ADV	_	6 supply	advmod
8	with	with	ADP	_	10 increase	case
9	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 increase	det
10	increase	increase	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 exhaustion	nmod
11	in	in	ADP	_	12 predators	case
12	predators	predator	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 increase	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exhaust			the food supply				with a increase in predators	nom exhaustion «state transitive»: of=patient with=obl

Option 4

Migration southward to temperate regions

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Migration	migration	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 temperate	nsubj
2	southward	southward	ADV	_	4 temperate	advmod
3	to	to	PART	_	4 temperate	mark
4	temperate	temperate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	regions	region	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 temperate	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	temperate	to-infinitive	Migration	regions				southward property	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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