Exam question 2 · The Arctic tundra: musk oxen, arctic foxes, snowy owls and…

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the supposed mass suicide of lemmings.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern, suppose · To what, where: response, supposed mass suicide

This is exam question 2 of lesson 168 «The Arctic tundra: musk oxen, arctic foxes, snowy owls and the truth about lemmings» 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 suicide	det
11	supposed	suppose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 suicide	amod
12	mass	mass	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 suicide	amod
13	suicide	suicide	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
14	of	of	ADP	_	15 lemmings	case
15	lemmings	lemming	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 suicide	nmod
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the supposed mass suicide of lemmings		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus suicide=Experiencer
4	suppose	participle				vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how 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

It is a well-attested phenomenon occurring every spring

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	7 phenomenon	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 phenomenon	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 phenomenon	det
4	well	well	ADV	Degree=Pos	6 attested	advmod
5	-	-	PUNCT	_	4 well	punct
6	attested	attest	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 phenomenon	amod
7	phenomenon	phenomenon	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
8	occurring	occur	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 phenomenon	acl
9	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	10 spring	det
10	spring	spring	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 occurring	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	attest	participle				well property	tree rules
2	is a	present	It	a attested phenomenon			tree rules
3	occur	gerund	a attested phenomenon not said here		spring		vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

It is undertaken by elderly lemmings exclusively

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 undertaken	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 undertaken	aux:pass
3	undertaken	undertake	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 lemmings	case
5	elderly	elderly	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 lemmings	amod
6	lemmings	lemming	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 undertaken	obl
7	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	3 undertaken	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	undertake	present · passive	elderly lemmings	It				exclusively property	vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Eventuality

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It is a myth propagated in part by a film of 1958 in which lemmings were deliberately driven over a cliff

The tree, 21 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	4 myth	expl
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 myth	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 myth	det
4	myth	myth	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	propagated	propagate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 myth	acl
6	in	in	ADP	_	7 part	case
7	part	part	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 propagated	obl
8	by	by	ADP	_	10 film	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 film	det
10	film	film	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 propagated	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 1958	case
12	1958	1958	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	10 film	nmod
13	in	in	ADP	_	14 which	case
14	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	18 driven	obl
15	lemmings	lemming	NOUN	Number=Plur	18 driven	nsubj:pass
16	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	18 driven	aux:pass
17	deliberately	deliberately	ADV	_	18 driven	advmod
18	driven	drive	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 myth	acl
19	over	over	ADP	_	21 cliff	case
20	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	21 cliff	det
21	cliff	cliff	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 driven	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	is a	present	a myth			tree rules
2	propagate	participle	a myth not said here	part	by a film of 1958	vn entity_specific_modes_being-47.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in part=Location
3	drive	past · passive	lemmings	a myth	over a cliff; deliberately property	vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.initial_location PP.destination»: subject=Theme in which=Destination over cliff=Initial_Location

Option 4

It occurs only when lemmings are pursued by foxes

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	2 occurs	nsubj
2	occurs	occur	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	only	only	ADV	_	7 pursued	advmod
4	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	7 pursued	advmod
5	lemmings	lemming	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 pursued	nsubj
6	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 pursued	aux:pass
7	pursued	pursue	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 occurs	ccomp
8	by	by	ADP	_	9 foxes	case
9	foxes	fox	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 pursued	obl:agent

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	occur	present	It						tree rules
2	pursue	present · passive	foxes	lemmings					vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme

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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