Exam question 4 · Sumatra: the smallest tiger, the hairy rhino, the stinking…

Ascertain the significance attributed to the naming of the Tapanuli orangutan in the year two thousand and seventeen.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, significance · What happens: ascertain, attribute, name · To what, where: significance, two thousand, Tapanuli orangutan

This is exam question 4 of lesson 162 «Sumatra: the smallest tiger, the hairy rhino, the stinking giant flower and the venomous loris» 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 significance	det
3	significance	significance	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	attributed	attribute	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 significance	acl
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 naming	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 naming	det
7	naming	naming	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 attributed	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	11 orangutan	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 orangutan	det
10	Tapanuli	Tapanuli	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 orangutan	compound
11	orangutan	orangutan	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 naming	nmod
12	in	in	ADP	_	14 year	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 year	det
14	year	year	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 thousand	obl
15	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	16 thousand	compound
16	thousand	thousand	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 attributed	obl
17	and	and	CCONJ	_	18 seventeen	cc
18	seventeen	seventeen	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	16 thousand	conj
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the significance		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent significance=Topic
2	attribute	participle	the significance not said here	two thousand	to the naming of the Tapanuli orangutan	tree rules
3	name			the Tapanuli orangutan		nom naming «communication 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

It was identified as a species of gorilla

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 identified	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 identified	aux:pass
3	identified	identify	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	as	as	ADP	_	6 species	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 species	det
6	species	species	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 identified	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 gorilla	case
8	gorilla	gorilla	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 species	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	past · passive		It				as a species of gorilla	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: subject=Theme as species=Attribute

Option 2

It was the first orangutan ever to be observed by scientists in the forests of Sumatra

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 orangutan	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 orangutan	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 orangutan	det
4	first	first	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	5 orangutan	amod
5	orangutan	orangutan	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	ever	ever	ADV	PronType=Ind	5 orangutan	advmod
7	to	to	PART	_	9 observed	mark
8	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	9 observed	aux:pass
9	observed	observe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 orangutan	acl
10	by	by	ADP	_	11 scientists	case
11	scientists	scientist	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 observed	obl
12	in	in	ADP	_	14 forests	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 forests	det
14	forests	forest	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 observed	obl
15	of	of	ADP	_	16 Sumatra	case
16	Sumatra	Sumatra	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 forests	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	It	the first orangutan			ever		tree rules
2	observe	to-infinitive · passive	scientists			the forests of Sumatra			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It was the first great ape to be described as a new species in nearly a century

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 ape	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 ape	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 ape	det
4	first	first	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	6 ape	amod
5	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 ape	amod
6	ape	ape	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	to	to	PART	_	9 described	mark
8	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	9 described	aux:pass
9	described	describe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 ape	acl
10	as	as	ADP	_	13 species	case
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 species	det
12	new	new	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 species	amod
13	species	species	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 described	obl
14	in	in	ADP	_	17 century	case
15	nearly	nearly	ADV	_	17 century	advmod
16	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 century	det
17	century	century	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 described	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	It	the first great ape					tree rules
2	describe	to-infinitive · passive					century	as a new species	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: as species=Attribute

Option 4

It was the last orangutan surviving in the wild

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 orangutan	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 orangutan	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 orangutan	det
4	last	last	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 orangutan	amod
5	orangutan	orangutan	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	surviving	survive	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 orangutan	acl
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 wild	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 wild	det
9	wild	wild	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 surviving	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	It	the last orangutan					tree rules
2	survive	gerund	the last orangutan not said here			the wild			vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in wild=Location

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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