Exam question 1 · Coral reef builders: polyps, bleaching, sand from parrotfi…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the biological nature of a coral?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: biological nature

This is exam question 1 of lesson 172 «Coral reef builders: polyps, bleaching, sand from parrotfish and giant clams» 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	11 nature	det
10	biological	biological	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 nature	amod
11	nature	nature	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 coral	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 coral	det
14	coral	coral	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 nature	nmod
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the biological nature of a coral				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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 single giant organism of the seaweed family

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 organism	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 organism	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 organism	det
4	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 organism	amod
5	giant	giant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 organism	amod
6	organism	organism	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	of	of	ADP	_	10 family	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 family	det
9	seaweed	seaweed	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 family	compound
10	family	family	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 organism	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a single giant organism				of the seaweed family	tree rules

Option 2

It is a species of marine plant

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 species	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 species	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 species	det
4	species	species	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 plant	case
6	marine	marine	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 plant	amod
7	plant	plant	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 species	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a species				of marine plant	tree rules

Option 3

It is a mineral formation devoid of life

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 formation	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 formation	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 formation	det
4	mineral	mineral	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 formation	amod
5	formation	formation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	devoid	devoid	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 formation	amod
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 life	case
8	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 devoid	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a mineral formation					tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It is a colony of minute animals, termed polyps, which secrete skeletons of limestone

The tree, 14 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 colony	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 colony	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 colony	det
4	colony	colony	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 animals	case
6	minute	minute	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 animals	compound
7	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 colony	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 polyps	punct
9	termed	term	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 polyps	amod
10	polyps	polyp	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 colony	conj
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 skeletons	punct
12	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	14 skeletons	nsubj
13	secrete	secrete	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 skeletons	amod
14	skeletons	skeleton	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 polyps	nmod
15	of	of	ADP	_	16 limestone	case
16	limestone	limestone	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 skeletons	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a colony and termed polyps	of minute animals	tree rules
2	term	participle				vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	skeleton		termed polyps		of limestone	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/172-coral-reef-builders-polyps-bleaching-sand-from-parrotfish-and-giant-clams/e1/