Exam question 4 · The Amazon forest floor: leafcutters, army ants, tapirs, j…

Ascertain the principal function of the buttress roots of rainforest trees.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain · To what, where: principal function

This is exam question 4 of lesson 157 «The Amazon forest floor: leafcutters, army ants, tapirs, jaguars and the giant spider» 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	4 function	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 function	amod
4	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 roots	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 roots	det
7	buttress	buttress	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 roots	compound
8	roots	root	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 function	nmod
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 trees	case
10	rainforest	rainforest	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 trees	compound
11	trees	tree	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 roots	nmod
12	.	.	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 principal function of the buttress roots of rainforest trees					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent function=Topic

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

They capture fruit falling from the canopy

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 capture	nsubj
2	capture	capture	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	fruit	fruit	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 capture	obj
4	falling	fall	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 fruit	acl
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 canopy	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 canopy	det
7	canopy	canopy	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 falling	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	capture	present	They	fruit					vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fruit=Theme
2	fall	gerund	fruit not said here			the canopy			vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from canopy=Initial_Location

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

They support the tall tree in a thin layer of soil by spreading widely

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 support	nsubj
2	support	support	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 tree	det
4	tall	tall	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 tree	amod
5	tree	tree	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 support	obj
6	in	in	ADP	_	9 layer	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 layer	det
8	thin	thin	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 layer	amod
9	layer	layer	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 support	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 soil	case
11	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 layer	nmod
12	by	by	SCONJ	_	13 spreading	mark
13	spreading	spread	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 support	advcl
14	widely	widely	ADV	_	13 spreading	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	support	present	They	the tall tree		a thin layer of soil			vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer tree=Stimulus
2	spread	gerund	They not said here					widely property	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3

They repel animals that would gnaw the trunk by means of long sharp spines

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 repel	nsubj
2	repel	repel	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 means	nsubj
3	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 repel	obj
4	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 gnaw	nsubj
5	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 gnaw	aux
6	gnaw	gnaw	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 animals	acl:relcl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 trunk	det
8	trunk	trunk	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 gnaw	obj
9	by	by	ADP	_	6 gnaw	obl
10	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 spines	case
12	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 spines	amod
13	sharp	sharp	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 spines	amod
14	spines	spine	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 means	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	repel	present	They	animals		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus animal=Experiencer
2	gnaw	would	animals	the trunk		vn chew-39.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent trunk=Patient
3	mean	present			of long sharp spines	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent

Option 4

They store water against prolonged drought

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 store	nsubj
2	store	store	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 store	obj
4	against	against	ADP	_	6 drought	case
5	prolonged	prolong	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 drought	amod
6	drought	drought	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 store	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	store	present	They	water		prolonged drought			vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent water=Theme against drought=Location
2	prolong	participle							vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent

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/157-the-amazon-forest-floor/e4/