Exam question 4 · The Southern Ocean: blue whales, colossal squid and life u…

Ascertain the manner in which whales contribute to the growth of phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, whales, phytoplankton · What happens: ascertain, contribute, grow · To what, where: manner, growth

This is exam question 4 of lesson 171 «The Southern Ocean: blue whales, colossal squid and life under the ice» 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 manner	det
3	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 contribute	obl
6	whales	whale	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 contribute	nsubj
7	contribute	contribute	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 manner	acl:relcl
8	to	to	ADP	_	10 growth	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 growth	det
10	growth	growth	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 contribute	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 phytoplankton	case
12	phytoplankton	phytoplankton	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 growth	nmod
13	in	in	ADP	_	16 Ocean	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 Ocean	det
15	Southern	Southern	PROPN	_	16 Ocean	flat
16	Ocean	Ocean	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 phytoplankton	nmod
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the manner			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent manner=Topic
2	contribute	present	whales		the growth of phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean	the manner	vn contribute-13.2-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to growth=Recipient
3	grow		phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean				nom growth «process intransitive»: of=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

Their songs stimulate the growth of plants upon the sea floor

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 songs	nmod:poss
2	songs	song	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 stimulate	nsubj
3	stimulate	stimulate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 growth	det
5	growth	growth	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 stimulate	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 plants	case
7	plants	plant	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 growth	nmod
8	upon	upon	ADP	_	11 floor	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 floor	det
10	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 floor	compound
11	floor	floor	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 stimulate	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	stimulate	present	Their songs	the growth of plants	upon the sea floor	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus growth=Experiencer
2	sing		Their = they			nom song «communication intransitive»: poss=agent
3	grow		plants			nom growth «process intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

Their bodies shade the water from excessive light

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 bodies	nmod:poss
2	bodies	body	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 shade	nsubj
3	shade	shade	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 water	det
5	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 shade	obj
6	from	from	ADP	_	8 light	case
7	excessive	excessive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 light	amod
8	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 shade	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	shade	present	Their bodies	the water				from excessive light	vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent water=Beneficiary from light=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Their excrement supplies iron which the phytoplankton require

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 iron	nmod:poss
2	excrement	excrement	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 supplies	compound
3	supplies	supplies	NOUN	Number=Ptan	4 iron	compound
4	iron	iron	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 require	nsubj
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 phytoplankton	nsubj
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 phytoplankton	det
7	phytoplankton	phytoplankton	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 iron	conj
8	require	require	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	phytoplankton		Their supplies iron and the phytoplankton						tree rules
2	require	present	Their supplies iron and the phytoplankton						vn require-103-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Theme

Option 4

Their breath warms the surface waters

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 breath	nmod:poss
2	breath	breath	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 warms	nsubj
3	warms	warm	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 waters	det
5	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 waters	compound
6	waters	water	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 warms	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	warm	present	Their breath	the surface waters					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent water=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.

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