Exam question 2 · Reef giants and wanderers: whale sharks, mantas, dugongs a…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the determination of sex in the offspring of sea turtles?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: sex · What happens: follow, characteris, determine · To what, where: determination, offspring

This is exam question 2 of lesson 174 «Reef giants and wanderers: whale sharks, mantas, dugongs and sea turtles» 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 determination	det
10	determination	determination	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 sex	case
12	sex	sex	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 determination	nmod
13	in	in	ADP	_	15 offspring	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 offspring	det
15	offspring	offspring	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obl
16	of	of	ADP	_	18 turtles	case
17	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 turtles	compound
18	turtles	turtle	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 offspring	nmod
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund					vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the determination of sex	the offspring of sea turtles	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	determine		sex				nom determination «act 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

It is fixed by the salinity of the adjacent sea

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 fixed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 fixed	aux:pass
3	fixed	fix	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 salinity	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 salinity	det
6	salinity	salinity	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 fixed	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	10 sea	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 sea	det
9	adjacent	adjacent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 sea	amod
10	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 salinity	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fix	present · passive	the salinity of the adjacent sea	It					vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent subject=Patient

Option 2

It is determined by the phase of the moon at laying

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 determined	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 determined	aux:pass
3	determined	determine	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 phase	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 phase	det
6	phase	phase	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 determined	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 moon	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 moon	det
9	moon	moon	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 phase	nmod
10	at	at	SCONJ	_	11 laying	mark
11	laying	lay	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 determined	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	determine	present · passive	the phase of the moon	It					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Topic
2	lay	gerund	the phase of the moon not said here						vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It is governed by the temperature of the sand in which the eggs are incubated

The tree, 15 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	3 governed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 governed	aux:pass
3	governed	govern	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 temperature	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 temperature	det
6	temperature	temperature	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 governed	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 sand	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 sand	det
9	sand	sand	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 temperature	nmod
10	in	in	ADP	_	11 which	case
11	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	15 incubated	obl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 eggs	det
13	eggs	egg	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 incubated	nsubj:pass
14	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 incubated	aux:pass
15	incubated	incubate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 sand	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	govern	present · passive	the temperature of the sand	It					vn supervision-95.2.2 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent subject=Theme
2	incubate	present · passive		the eggs		the sand			tree rules

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

It is determined by the age of the mother

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 determined	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 determined	aux:pass
3	determined	determine	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 age	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 age	det
6	age	age	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 determined	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 mother	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 mother	det
9	mother	mother	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 age	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	determine	present · passive	the age of the mother	It					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Topic

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/174-reef-giants-and-wanderers-whale-sharks-mantas-dugongs-and-sea-turtles/e2/