Exam question 2 · The Galápagos: giant tortoises, sea iguanas, Darwin's finc…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the variation in the beaks of Darwin's finches?

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

This is exam question 2 of lesson 180 «The Galápagos: giant tortoises, sea iguanas, Darwin's finches and tame sea lions» 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 variation	det
10	variation	variation	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	in	in	ADP	_	13 beaks	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 beaks	det
13	beaks	beak	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
14	of	of	ADP	_	17 finches	case
15	Darwin	Darwin	PROPN	Number=Sing	17 finches	nmod:poss
16	's	's	PART	_	15 Darwin	case
17	finches	finch	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 beaks	nmod
18	?	?	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 variation		the beaks of Darwin's finches		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

Each bird alters its beak at will

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 bird	det
2	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 alters	nsubj
3	alters	alter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 beak	nmod:poss
5	beak	beak	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 alters	obj
6	at	at	ADP	_	7 will	case
7	will	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 alters	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	alter	present	each bird	bird's beak					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent beak=Patient

Option 2

All finches possess identical beaks

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	All	all	DET	PronType=Tot	2 finches	det
2	finches	finch	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 possess	nsubj
3	possess	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	identical	identical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 beaks	amod
5	beaks	beak	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 possess	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	present	all finches	identical beaks					vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot beak=Theme

Option 3

The beaks were modified by sailors

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 beaks	det
2	beaks	beak	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 modified	nsubj:pass
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 modified	aux:pass
4	modified	modify	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 sailors	case
6	sailors	sailor	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 modified	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	modify	past · passive	sailors	the beaks					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent subject=Patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Beaks are adapted to different foods, through the survival of the best-suited birds over generations

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Beaks	beak	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 adapted	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 adapted	aux:pass
3	adapted	adapt	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 foods	case
5	different	different	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 foods	amod
6	foods	food	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 adapted	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 survival	punct
8	through	through	ADP	_	10 survival	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 survival	det
10	survival	survival	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 adapted	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	16 birds	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 birds	det
13	best	good	ADJ	Degree=Sup	15 suited	advmod
14	-	-	PUNCT	_	13 best	punct
15	suited	suit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	16 birds	amod
16	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 survival	nmod
17	over	over	ADP	_	18 generations	case
18	generations	generation	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 adapted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	adapt	present · passive	Beaks	the survival of the suited birds	over generations	to different foods goal	vn adjust-26.9 «NP V NP PP»: subject=Patient to food=Goal
2	suit	participle					tree rules
3	survive		the suited birds				nom survival «state transitive»: of=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/180-the-galapagos-giant-tortoises-sea-iguanas-darwins-finches-and-tame-sea-lions/e2/