Exam question 4 · Mangroves: trees in salt water, mudskippers, archerfish an…

Ascertain the principal benefit conferred upon coastlines by mangrove forests.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, confer · To what, where: principal benefit

This is exam question 4 of lesson 178 «Mangroves: trees in salt water, mudskippers, archerfish and swimming tigers» 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	4 benefit	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 benefit	amod
4	benefit	benefit	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	conferred	confer	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 benefit	acl
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 coastlines	case
7	coastlines	coastline	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 conferred	obl
8	by	by	ADP	_	10 forests	case
9	mangrove	mangrove	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 forests	compound
10	forests	forest	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 conferred	obl
11	.	.	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 principal benefit					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent benefit=Topic
2	confer	participle		the principal benefit not said here				upon coastlines; by mangrove forests	vn chit_chat-37.6 «NP V»: 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 · ✓ the right answer

Their roots diminish the force of waves and retain the soil

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 roots	nmod:poss
2	roots	root	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 diminish	nsubj
3	diminish	diminish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 force	det
5	force	force	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 diminish	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 waves	case
7	waves	wave	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 force	nmod
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 retain	cc
9	retain	retain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 diminish	conj
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 soil	det
11	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 retain	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	diminish	present	Their roots	the force of waves					vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer force=Patient
2	retain	present	Their roots not said here	the soil					tree rules

Option 2

They raise the temperature of the sea

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 raise	nsubj
2	raise	raise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 temperature	det
4	temperature	temperature	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 raise	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 sea	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 sea	det
7	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 temperature	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	raise	present	They	the temperature of the sea					vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent temperature=Theme

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

They repel all marine animals by means of a poison exuded by their roots

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 repel	nsubj
2	repel	repel	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	all	all	ADV	_	4 marine	advmod
4	marine	marine	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 animals	amod
5	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 repel	obj
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 means	case
7	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 repel	parataxis
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 poison	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 poison	det
10	poison	poison	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 means	obl
11	exuded	exude	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 poison	acl
12	by	by	ADP	_	14 roots	case
13	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 roots	nmod:poss
14	roots	root	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 exuded	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	repel	present	They	marine animals		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus animal=Experiencer
2	mean	present			of a poison	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
3	exude	participle		a poison not said here	by animals's roots	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by root=Location

Option 4

They prevent the formation of clouds

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 prevent	nsubj
2	prevent	prevent	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 formation	det
4	formation	formation	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 prevent	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 clouds	case
6	clouds	cloud	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 formation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prevent	present	They	the formation of clouds					vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer formation=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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