Exam question 2 · Strange islands: Komodo dragons, the dodo, red crabs, kaka…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the circumstances of the extinction of the dodo?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, extinguish · To what, where: circumstances, dodo

This is exam question 2 of lesson 181 «Strange islands: Komodo dragons, the dodo, red crabs, kakapos, giants and dwarfs» 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 circumstances	det
10	circumstances	circumstance	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 extinction	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 extinction	det
13	extinction	extinction	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 circumstances	nmod
14	of	of	ADP	_	16 dodo	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 dodo	det
16	dodo	dodo	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 extinction	nmod
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the circumstances of the extinction of the dodo	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	extinguish		the dodo		nom extinction «state transitive»: of=patient

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 was extinguished by a volcanic eruption alone

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 extinguished	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 extinguished	aux:pass
3	extinguished	extinguish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	7 eruption	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 eruption	det
6	volcanic	volcanic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 eruption	amod
7	eruption	eruption	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 extinguished	obl
8	alone	alone	ADV	_	7 eruption	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	extinguish	past · passive	a volcanic eruption	It					vn remedy-45.7-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent subject=Patient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

It perished owing to its want of intelligence

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	2 perished	nsubj
2	perished	perish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	owing	owe	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 perished	xcomp
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 want	case
5	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 want	nmod:poss
6	want	want	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 owing	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 intelligence	case
8	intelligence	intelligence	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 want	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	perish	past	It			tree rules
2	owe	gerund			to its want of intelligence goal	vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent to want=Goal
3	want		its = it	intelligence		nom want «state transitive»: poss=agent of=patient

Option 3

It migrated to another continent

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	2 migrated	nsubj
2	migrated	migrate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	ADP	_	5 continent	case
4	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	5 continent	det
5	continent	continent	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 migrated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	migrate	past	It					to another continent	tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Animals introduced by sailors consumed its eggs, and it was hunted by people

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 consumed	nsubj
2	introduced	introduce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Animals	acl
3	by	by	ADP	_	4 sailors	case
4	sailors	sailor	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 introduced	obl
5	consumed	consume	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 eggs	nmod:poss
7	eggs	egg	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 consumed	obj
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 hunted	punct
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 hunted	cc
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 hunted	nsubj:pass
11	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	12 hunted	aux:pass
12	hunted	hunt	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 consumed	conj
13	by	by	ADP	_	14 people	case
14	people	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 hunted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	introduce	participle		Animals not said here	by sailors	vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient
2	consume	past	Animals	its eggs		vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent egg=Asset
3	hunt	past · passive	people	it		vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/181-strange-islands-komodo-dragons-the-dodo-red-crabs-kakapos-giants-and-dwarfs/e2/