Exam question 3 · Australia's forests and Tasmania: devils, cassowaries, lyr…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the condition of the Tasmanian devil population?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, condition · To what, where: condition, Tasmanian devil population

This is exam question 3 of lesson 167 «Australia's forests and Tasmania: devils, cassowaries, lyrebirds and cube-shaped droppings» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 condition	det
10	condition	condition	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	15 population	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 population	det
13	Tasmanian	Tasmanian	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 population	compound
14	devil	devil	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 population	compound
15	population	population	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 condition	nmod
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the condition of the Tasmanian devil population	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	condition		the Tasmanian devil population		nom condition «state 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 has expanded across the sea to the mainland of Asia

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 expanded	nsubj:pass
2	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 expanded	aux
3	expanded	expand	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	across	across	ADP	_	6 sea	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 sea	det
6	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 expanded	obl
7	to	to	ADP	_	9 mainland	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 mainland	det
9	mainland	mainland	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 expanded	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 Asia	case
11	Asia	Asia	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 mainland	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	expand	present · perfect · passive		It		the sea		to the mainland of Asia	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient

Option 2

It has been entirely replaced by the thylacine

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 replaced	nsubj:pass
2	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 replaced	aux
3	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	5 replaced	aux:pass
4	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	5 replaced	advmod
5	replaced	replace	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 thylacine	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 thylacine	det
8	thylacine	thylacine	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 replaced	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	replace	present · perfect · passive	the thylacine	It				entirely property	vn substitute-13.6.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme subject=Co-Theme

Option 3

It is unaffected by any disease

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 unaffected	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 unaffected	cop
3	unaffected	unaffected	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 disease	case
5	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	6 disease	det
6	disease	disease	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 unaffected	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					by any disease; unaffected property	tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It has been greatly reduced by a contagious facial cancer

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 reduced	nsubj:pass
2	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 reduced	aux
3	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	5 reduced	aux:pass
4	greatly	greatly	ADV	_	5 reduced	advmod
5	reduced	reduce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	by	by	ADP	_	10 cancer	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 cancer	det
8	contagious	contagious	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 cancer	amod
9	facial	facial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 cancer	amod
10	cancer	cancer	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 reduced	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reduce	present · perfect · passive	a contagious facial cancer	It				greatly property	vn limit-76 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer subject=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/167-australias-forests-and-tasmania-devils-cassowaries-and-lyrebirds/e3/