Exam question 2 · Myth check: do goldfish have a three-second memory?

Identify the principal reason for which a small spherical bowl is unsuitable for the keeping of goldfish.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, small spherical bowl · What happens: identify, be, keep · To what, where: principal reason

This is exam question 2 of lesson 152 «Myth check: do goldfish have a three-second memory?» 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 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 unsuitable	obl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 bowl	det
8	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 bowl	amod
9	spherical	spherical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 bowl	amod
10	bowl	bowl	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 unsuitable	nsubj
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 unsuitable	cop
12	unsuitable	unsuitable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	acl
13	for	for	SCONJ	_	15 keeping	mark
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 keeping	det
15	keeping	keep	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	12 unsuitable	advcl
16	of	of	ADP	_	17 goldfish	case
17	goldfish	goldfish	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 keeping	obl
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	is	present	a small spherical bowl		for the principal reason; unsuitable property	tree rules
3	keep	gerund	a small spherical bowl not said here		of goldfish	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

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 bowl admits an excess of daylight

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 bowl	det
2	bowl	bowl	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 admits	nsubj
3	admits	admit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 excess	det
5	excess	excess	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 admits	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 daylight	case
7	daylight	daylight	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 excess	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	admit speech: other	present	the bowl	a excess of daylight					vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent excess=Theme

Option 2

The fish is compelled to grow to the exact dimensions of the bowl and then cease growing entirely

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 fish	det
2	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 compelled	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 compelled	aux:pass
4	compelled	compel	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 grow	mark
6	grow	grow	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 compelled	xcomp
7	to	to	ADP	_	10 dimensions	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 dimensions	det
9	exact	exact	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 dimensions	amod
10	dimensions	dimension	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 grow	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 bowl	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 bowl	det
13	bowl	bowl	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 dimensions	nmod
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 cease	cc
15	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	16 cease	advmod
16	cease	cease	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 compelled	conj
17	growing	grow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	16 cease	xcomp
18	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	17 growing	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	compel	present · passive	the fish			vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result
2	grow	to-infinitive			to the exact dimensions of the bowl	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	cease	present		then		vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality
4	grow	gerund			entirely property	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Waste accumulates rapidly and the water becomes deficient in oxygen

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Waste	waste	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 accumulates	nsubj
2	accumulates	accumulate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	rapidly	rapidly	ADV	_	2 accumulates	advmod
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 becomes	cc
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 water	det
6	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 becomes	nsubj
7	becomes	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 accumulates	conj
8	deficient	deficient	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 becomes	xcomp
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 oxygen	case
10	oxygen	oxygen	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 becomes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	accumulate	present	Waste					rapidly property	vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	become	present	the water					in oxygen result; deficient property	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in oxygen=Result

Option 4

The curvature of the glass induces confusion in the fish

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 curvature	det
2	curvature	curvature	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 induces	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 glass	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 glass	det
5	glass	glass	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 curvature	nmod
6	induces	induce	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	confusion	confusion	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 induces	obj
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 fish	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 fish	det
10	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 induces	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	induce	present	the curvature of the glass	confusion				in the fish	vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent confusion=Patient
2	curve			the glass					nom curvature «state transitive»: of=patient

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/152-goldfish-memory/e2/