Exam question 2 · Record-breakers: the loudest and the longest-lived

Ascertain the method by which the age of the clam known as Ming was determined.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, age · What happens: ascertain, know, be · To what, where: method, clam

This is exam question 2 of lesson 187 «Record-breakers: the loudest and the longest-lived» 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 method	det
3	method	method	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	15 determined	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 age	det
7	age	age	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 determined	nsubj
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 clam	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 clam	det
10	clam	clam	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 age	nmod
11	known	know	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 clam	acl
12	as	as	ADP	_	13 Ming	case
13	Ming	Ming	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 known	obl
14	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	15 determined	cop
15	determined	determined	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 method	acl:relcl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the method		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent method=Topic
2	know	participle		the clam not said here	as Ming	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer as ming=Attribute
3	is	past	the age of the clam		by the method; determined 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

The examination of its teeth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 examination	det
2	examination	examination	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 teeth	case
4	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 teeth	nmod:poss
5	teeth	tooth	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 examination	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	examine			examination's teeth					nom examination «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The enumeration of annual growth rings upon its shell

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 enumeration	det
2	enumeration	enumeration	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 rings	case
4	annual	annual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 rings	amod
5	growth	growth	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 rings	compound
6	rings	ring	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 enumeration	nmod
7	upon	upon	ADP	_	9 shell	case
8	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 shell	nmod:poss
9	shell	shell	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 rings	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	enumerate			annual growth rings upon enumeration's shell					nom enumeration «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

Its weight in comparison with younger clams

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 weight	nmod:poss
2	weight	weight	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 comparison	nsubj
3	in	in	ADP	_	4 comparison	case
4	comparison	comparison	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 clams	case
6	younger	young	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	7 clams	amod
7	clams	clam	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 comparison	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4

Records maintained by fishermen

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Records	record	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
2	maintained	maintain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Records	acl
3	by	by	ADP	_	4 fishermen	case
4	fishermen	fisherman	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 maintained	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	maintain	participle		Records not said here				by fishermen	vn declare-29.4-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Agent

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/187-record-breakers-the-loudest-and-the-longest-lived/e2/