Exam question 1 · Goldfish and pond fish: the three-second memory myth

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the memory of the goldfish?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: memory

This is exam question 1 of lesson 204 «Goldfish and pond fish: the three-second memory myth» 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 memory	det
10	memory	memory	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 goldfish	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 goldfish	det
13	goldfish	goldfish	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 memory	nmod
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the memory of the goldfish				of the following statements; accurately 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 · ← Mova's choice

Goldfish possess no capacity for memory

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Goldfish	goldfish	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 possess	nsubj
2	possess	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	4 capacity	det
4	capacity	capacity	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 possess	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 memory	case
6	memory	memory	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 possess	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	present	Goldfish	no capacity				for memory	vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot capacity=Theme

Option 2

Goldfish retain information for three seconds only

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Goldfish	goldfish	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 retain	nsubj
2	retain	retain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	information	information	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 retain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	6 seconds	case
5	three	three	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	6 seconds	nummod
6	seconds	second	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 retain	obl
7	only	only	ADV	_	2 retain	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	retain	present	Goldfish	information			second		tree rules

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Goldfish are capable of learning tasks and retaining them for months

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Goldfish	goldfish	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 capable	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 capable	cop
3	capable	capable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 tasks	case
5	learning	learning	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 tasks	compound
6	tasks	task	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 capable	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 retaining	cc
8	retaining	retain	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 capable	conj
9	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 retaining	obj
10	for	for	ADP	_	11 months	case
11	months	month	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 retaining	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Goldfish					of learning tasks; capable property	tree rules
2	retain	gerund	Goldfish not said here	Goldfish			month		tree rules

Option 4

Goldfish recollect solely their own name

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Goldfish	goldfish	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 recollect	nsubj
2	recollect	recollect	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	solely	solely	ADV	_	2 recollect	advmod
4	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 name	nmod:poss
5	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 name	amod
6	name	name	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 recollect	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	recollect	present	Goldfish	Goldfish's own name				solely property	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent name=Theme
2	name		Goldfish						nom name «communication transitive»: poss=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.

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