Exam question 4 · Goldfish and pond fish: the three-second memory myth
Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the disposal of a goldfish by flushing.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern, flush · To what, where: response, disposal
This is exam question 4 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 | 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 disposal | det |
| 11 | disposal | disposal | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 concerning | obj |
| 12 | of | of | ADP | _ | 14 goldfish | case |
| 13 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 14 goldfish | det |
| 14 | goldfish | goldfish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 disposal | nmod |
| 15 | by | by | SCONJ | _ | 16 flushing | mark |
| 16 | flushing | flush | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 9 concerning | advcl |
| 17 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 Select | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | 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 disposal of a goldfish | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus disposal=Experiencer | ||||
| 4 | flush | gerund | the established facts not said here | vn hiccup-40.1.1 «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 · ← Mova's choice
The fish is transformed into a marine species
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 fish | det |
| 2 | fish | fish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 transformed | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 transformed | aux:pass |
| 4 | transformed | transform | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | into | into | ADP | _ | 8 species | case |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 species | det |
| 7 | marine | marine | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 species | amod |
| 8 | species | species | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 transformed | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | transform | present · passive | the fish | into a marine species result | vn turn-26.6.1 «NP V NP.patient PP.result»: subject=Patient into species=Result |
Option 2
The fish is thereby returned safely to the sea
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 fish | det |
| 2 | fish | fish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 returned | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 returned | aux |
| 4 | thereby | thereby | ADV | _ | 5 returned | advmod |
| 5 | returned | return | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | safely | safely | ADV | _ | 5 returned | advmod |
| 7 | to | to | ADP | _ | 9 sea | case |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 sea | det |
| 9 | sea | sea | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 returned | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | return | present · passive | the fish | the sea | safely, thereby property | vn send-11.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme to sea=Destination |
Option 3 · ✓ the right answer
The fish is not thereby liberated, and released fish may harm wild waters
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 fish | det |
| 2 | fish | fish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 liberated | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 6 liberated | aux |
| 4 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 6 liberated | advmod |
| 5 | thereby | thereby | ADV | _ | 6 liberated | advmod |
| 6 | liberated | liberate | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 9 released | punct |
| 8 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 9 released | cc |
| 9 | released | release | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 liberated | conj |
| 10 | fish | fish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 harm | nsubj |
| 11 | may | may | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 12 harm | aux |
| 12 | harm | harm | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 9 released | xcomp |
| 13 | wild | wild | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 14 waters | amod |
| 14 | waters | water | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 harm | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not liberate | present · passive | the fish | thereby property | vn steal-10.5 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | ||||
| 2 | release | past | tree rules | ||||||
| 3 | harm | may | fish | wild waters | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus water=Experiencer |
Option 4
The fish thrives within the sewage system
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 fish | det |
| 2 | fish | fish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 thrives | nsubj |
| 3 | thrives | thrive | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | within | within | ADP | _ | 7 system | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 system | det |
| 6 | sewage | sewage | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 system | compound |
| 7 | system | system | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 thrives | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | thrive | present | the fish | within the sewage system | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/204-goldfish-and-pond-fish-the-three-second-memory-myth/e4/