Exam question 4 · Strange discoveries: living fossils, hidden apes and anima…

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the bone-eating worms.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern, eat · To what, where: response, eating worms

This is exam question 4 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	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	14 worms	det
11	bone	bone	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 eating	compound
12	-	-	PUNCT	_	11 bone	punct
13	eating	eat	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	14 worms	amod
14	worms	worm	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 concerning	obj
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 eating worms		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus worm=Experiencer
4	eat	gerund				vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

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

They possess sharp teeth for gnawing bones

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 possess	nsubj
2	possess	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	sharp	sharp	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 teeth	amod
4	teeth	tooth	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 possess	obj
5	for	for	SCONJ	_	6 gnawing	mark
6	gnawing	gnaw	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 possess	advcl
7	bones	bone	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 gnawing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	present	They	sharp teeth					vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot tooth=Theme
2	gnaw	gerund	They not said here	bones					vn chew-39.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bone=Patient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

They were discovered in the year 1802

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 discovered	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 discovered	aux:pass
3	discovered	discover	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 year	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 year	det
6	year	year	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 discovered	obl
7	1802	1802	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	6 year	flat

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	discover	past · passive		They			year		vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

They lack mouth and stomach and consume whale bones by means of roots

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 lack	nsubj
2	lack	lack	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	mouth	mouth	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 lack	obj
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 stomach	cc
5	stomach	stomach	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 mouth	conj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 consume	cc
7	consume	consume	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	11 means	csubj
8	whale	whale	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 bones	compound
9	bones	bone	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 consume	obj
10	by	by	ADP	_	11 means	case
11	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 lack	parataxis
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 roots	case
13	roots	root	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 means	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	lack	present	They	mouth and stomach		tree rules
2	consume	infinitive		whale bones		vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bone=Asset
3	mean	present			of roots	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent

Option 4

They inhabit desert sand and consume stones

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 inhabit	nsubj
2	inhabit	inhabit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	desert	desert	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 sand	amod
4	sand	sand	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 inhabit	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 consume	cc
6	consume	consume	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 inhabit	conj
7	stones	stone	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 consume	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	inhabit	present	They	desert sand					tree rules
2	consume	infinitive	They not said here	stones					vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stone=Asset

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/190-strange-discoveries-living-fossils-hidden-apes-and-animals-found-in-drawers/e4/