Exam question 4 · Coral reef builders: polyps, bleaching, sand from parrotfi…

Ascertain the origin of a considerable proportion of the white sand upon certain tropical beaches.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain · To what, where: origin

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 origin	det
3	origin	origin	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 proportion	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 proportion	det
6	considerable	considerable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 proportion	amod
7	proportion	proportion	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 origin	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	11 sand	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 sand	det
10	white	white	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 sand	amod
11	sand	sand	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 proportion	nmod
12	upon	upon	ADP	_	15 beaches	case
13	certain	certain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 beaches	amod
14	tropical	tropical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 beaches	amod
15	beaches	beach	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 sand	nmod
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the origin of a considerable proportion of the white sand upon certain tropical beaches					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent origin=Topic

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 · ✓ the right answer

Fragments of coral ground and excreted by parrotfish

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Fragments	fragment	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 excreted	nsubj:pass
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 ground	case
3	coral	coral	NOUN	_	4 ground	compound
4	ground	ground	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Fragments	nmod
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 excreted	cc
6	excreted	excrete	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	by	by	ADP	_	8 parrotfish	case
8	parrotfish	parrotfish	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 excreted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	excrete	participle · passive	parrotfish	Fragments of coral ground					tree rules

Option 2

Particles of salt deposited by evaporation of the sea

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Particles	particle	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
2	of	of	ADP	_	3 salt	case
3	salt	salt	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Particles	nmod
4	deposited	deposit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Particles	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 evaporation	case
6	evaporation	evaporation	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 deposited	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 sea	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 sea	det
9	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 evaporation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	deposit	participle		Particles of salt not said here				by evaporation of the sea	vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent by evaporation=Destination
2	evaporate			the sea					nom evaporation «process transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

Shells of the giant clam crushed by waves

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Shells	shell	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 clam	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 clam	det
4	giant	giant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 clam	amod
5	clam	clam	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Shells	nmod
6	crushed	crush	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 clam	acl
7	by	by	ADP	_	8 waves	case
8	waves	wave	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 crushed	obl:agent

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	crush	participle		the giant clam not said here					vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient

Option 4

Pulverised volcanic glass of black colour

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Pulverised	pulveris	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 glass	amod
2	volcanic	volcanic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 glass	amod
3	glass	glass	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 colour	case
5	black	black	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 colour	amod
6	colour	colour	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 glass	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pulveris	participle							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.

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