Exam question 4 · Amazon giants and tall tales: anacondas, caimans, electric…

Ascertain the consequence observed upon the killing by hunters of the majority of black caimans.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, observe · To what, where: consequence

This is exam question 4 of lesson 158 «Amazon giants and tall tales: anacondas, caimans, electric eels and the candiru» 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 consequence	det
3	consequence	consequence	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	observed	observe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 consequence	acl
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 killing	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 killing	det
7	killing	killing	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 observed	obl
8	by	by	ADP	_	9 hunters	case
9	hunters	hunter	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 observed	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 majority	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 majority	det
12	majority	majority	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 hunters	nmod
13	of	of	ADP	_	15 caimans	case
14	black	black	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 caimans	amod
15	caimans	caiman	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 majority	nmod
16	.	.	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 consequence					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent consequence=Topic
2	observe	participle		the consequence not said here				upon the killing; by hunters of the majority of black caimans	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: 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 drying of the river channel

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 drying	det
2	drying	drying	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 channel	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 channel	det
5	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 channel	compound
6	channel	channel	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 drying	nmod

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

Option 2

The disappearance of capybaras from the river, the caimans having driven them away

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 disappearance	det
2	disappearance	disappearance	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 driven	nsubj:pass
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 capybaras	case
4	capybaras	capybara	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 disappearance	nmod
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 river	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 river	det
7	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 capybaras	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 disappearance	punct
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 caimans	det
10	caimans	caiman	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 driven	nsubj:pass
11	having	have	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	12 driven	aux
12	driven	drive	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
13	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 driven	obj
14	away	away	ADV	_	12 driven	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	drive away	gerund · perfect · passive		the disappearance of capybaras from the river				away property	vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Theme they=Destination
2	disappear		capybaras from the river						nom disappearance «act intransitive»: of=agent

Option 3

A decline in the number of piranhas

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 decline	det
2	decline	decline	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	5 number	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 number	det
5	number	number	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 decline	nmod
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 piranhas	case
7	piranhas	piranha	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 number	nmod

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

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

An increase in the number of piranhas, upon which the caimans had preyed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 increase	det
2	increase	increase	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	5 number	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 number	det
5	number	number	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 increase	nmod
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 piranhas	case
7	piranhas	piranha	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 number	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 preyed	punct
9	upon	upon	ADP	_	10 which	case
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	14 preyed	obl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 caimans	det
12	caimans	caiman	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 preyed	nsubj:pass
13	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	14 preyed	aux
14	preyed	prey	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 increase	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prey	past · perfect · passive		the caimans				upon a increase in the number of piranhas	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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/158-amazon-giants-and-tall-tales/e4/