Exam question 1 · Strange discoveries: living fossils, hidden apes and anima…

Identify the circumstance which rendered the capture of a coelacanth in 1938 remarkable.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, circumstance · What happens: identify, render, capture · To what, where: circumstance, capture, 1938 remarkable, coelacanth

This is exam question 1 of lesson 190 «Strange discoveries: living fossils, hidden apes and animals found in drawers» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 circumstance	det
3	circumstance	circumstance	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 rendered	nsubj
5	rendered	render	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 circumstance	acl:relcl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 capture	det
7	capture	capture	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 rendered	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 coelacanth	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 coelacanth	det
10	coelacanth	coelacanth	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 capture	nmod
11	in	in	ADP	_	13 remarkable	case
12	1938	1938	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	13 remarkable	nummod
13	remarkable	remarkable	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 rendered	obl
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the circumstance		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent circumstance=Theme
2	render	past	the circumstance	the capture of a coelacanth	1938 remarkable	vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent capture=Theme
3	capture			a coelacanth		nom capture «act 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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The group was believed to have become extinct at the time of the dinosaurs

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 group	det
2	group	group	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 believed	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 believed	aux:pass
4	believed	believe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	7 become	mark
6	have	have	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	7 become	aux
7	become	become	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	4 believed	xcomp
8	extinct	extinct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 become	xcomp
9	at	at	ADP	_	11 time	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 time	det
11	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 become	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 dinosaurs	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 dinosaurs	det
14	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 time	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	believe	past · passive		the group					tree rules
2	become	to-infinitive · perfect					time	extinct property	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient

Option 2

It was taken from a freshwater lake in a desert

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 taken	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 taken	aux:pass
3	taken	take	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	7 lake	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 lake	det
6	freshwater	freshwater	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 lake	compound
7	lake	lake	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 taken	obl
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 desert	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 desert	det
10	desert	desert	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 taken	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	take	past · passive		It		a freshwater lake		in a desert	vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial_location»: subject=Theme from lake=Initial_Location

Option 3

It was the largest fish ever caught

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	5 fish	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 fish	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 fish	det
4	largest	large	ADJ	Degree=Sup	5 fish	amod
5	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	ever	ever	ADV	PronType=Ind	7 caught	advmod
7	caught	catch	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 fish	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	It	the largest fish					tree rules
2	catch	participle		the largest fish not said here			ever		vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 4

It was found to breathe air exclusively

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 found	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 found	aux:pass
3	found	find	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 breathe	mark
5	breathe	breathe	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 found	xcomp
6	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 breathe	obj
7	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	5 breathe	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	find	past · passive		It					vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Attribute clause=Theme
2	breathe	to-infinitive		air				exclusively property	vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent air=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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