Exam question 4 · Record-breakers: the loudest and the longest-lived

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the lifespan of small mammals.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern · To what, where: response, lifespan

This is exam question 4 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 lifespan	det
11	lifespan	lifespan	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 mammals	case
13	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 mammals	amod
14	mammals	mammal	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 lifespan	nmod
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the lifespan of small mammals		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus lifespan=Experiencer

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

All survive for several centuries

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	All	all	DET	PronType=Tot	2 survive	advmod
2	survive	survive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	for	for	ADP	_	5 centuries	case
4	several	several	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 centuries	amod
5	centuries	century	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 survive	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	survive	present					century		vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Most live only a few years, although the naked mole-rat exceeds thirty

The tree, 13 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Most	most	ADJ	Degree=Sup	2 live	nsubj
2	live	live	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	only	only	ADV	_	6 years	advmod
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 years	det
5	few	few	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 years	amod
6	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 live	obl:unmarked
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 exceeds	punct
8	although	although	SCONJ	_	14 exceeds	mark
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 rat	det
10	naked	naked	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 rat	amod
11	mole	mole	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 rat	compound
12	-	-	PUNCT	_	11 mole	punct
13	rat	rat	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 exceeds	nsubj
14	exceeds	exceed	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 live	conj
15	thirty	thirty	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	14 exceeds	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	live	present	Most				year		vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	exceed	present	the naked mole rat	thirty					vn exceed-90 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot thirty=Theme

Option 3

All small mammals live precisely ten years

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	All	all	DET	PronType=Tot	3 mammals	det
2	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 mammals	amod
3	mammals	mammal	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 live	nsubj
4	live	live	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	precisely	precisely	ADV	_	4 live	advmod
6	ten	ten	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	7 years	nummod
7	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 live	obl:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	live	present	all small mammals				year	precisely property	vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

The house mouse is the longest-lived of rodents

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 mouse	det
2	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 mouse	compound
3	mouse	mouse	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 lived	nsubj
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 lived	cop
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 lived	det
6	longest	long	ADJ	Degree=Sup	8 lived	advmod
7	-	-	PUNCT	_	6 longest	punct
8	lived	live	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 rodents	case
10	rodents	rodent	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 lived	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the house mouse					of rodents; live property	tree rules

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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