Exam question 4 · Myth check: do lemmings jump off cliffs?

Ascertain the effect upon lemmings of rain falling upon snow and subsequently freezing.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, rain · What happens: ascertain, fall, freeze · To what, where: effect, snow

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 effect	det
3	effect	effect	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	5 lemmings	case
5	lemmings	lemming	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 effect	nmod
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 rain	case
7	rain	rain	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 lemmings	nmod
8	falling	fall	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 rain	acl
9	upon	upon	ADP	_	10 snow	case
10	snow	snow	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 falling	obl
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 freezing	cc
12	subsequently	subsequently	ADV	_	13 freezing	advmod
13	freezing	freeze	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	1 Ascertain	conj
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the effect		upon lemmings of rain	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent effect=Topic
2	fall	gerund	rain not said here		snow		vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme upon snow=Location
3	freeze	gerund	you not said here			subsequently property	vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=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

The ice increases the quantity of food available

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 ice	det
2	ice	ice	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 increases	nsubj
3	increases	increase	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 quantity	det
5	quantity	quantity	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 increases	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 food	case
7	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 quantity	nmod
8	available	available	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 increases	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	increase	present	the ice	the quantity of food				available property	vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer quantity=Patient

Option 2

The ice affords additional warmth and safety

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 ice	det
2	ice	ice	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 affords	nsubj
3	affords	afford	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	additional	additional	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 warmth	amod
5	warmth	warmth	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 affords	obj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 safety	cc
7	safety	safety	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 warmth	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	afford	present	the ice	additional warmth and safety					tree rules

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Layers of ice may sever access to food and saturate the nests

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Layers	layer	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 sever	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	3 ice	case
3	ice	ice	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Layers	nmod
4	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 sever	aux
5	sever	sever	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	access	access	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 sever	obj
7	to	to	ADP	_	8 food	case
8	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 sever	obl
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 saturate	cc
10	saturate	saturate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 sever	conj
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 nests	det
12	nests	nest	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 saturate	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sever	may	Layers of ice	access				to food	vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent access=Theme
2	saturate	infinitive	Layers of ice not said here	the nests					vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme nest=Destination

Option 4

The ice exerts no effect whatever upon the animals, which remain secure within the soil

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 ice	det
2	ice	ice	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 exerts	nsubj
3	exerts	exert	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	5 effect	det
5	effect	effect	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 exerts	obj
6	whatever	whatever	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 animals	det:predet
7	upon	upon	ADP	_	9 animals	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 animals	det
9	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 effect	nmod
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 remain	punct
11	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 remain	nsubj
12	remain	remain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 animals	acl:relcl
13	secure	secure	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 remain	xcomp
14	within	within	ADP	_	16 soil	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 soil	det
16	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 remain	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exert	present	the ice	no effect				upon whatever animals	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent effect=Theme
2	remain	present	whatever animals					within the soil; secure property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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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