Exam question 2 · Butterflies, moths and ladybirds

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the damage to woollen garments attributed to moths?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, attribute · To what, where: damage, woollen garments

This is exam question 2 of lesson 219 «Butterflies, moths and ladybirds» 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 damage	det
10	damage	damage	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	to	to	ADP	_	13 garments	case
12	woollen	woollen	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 garments	amod
13	garments	garment	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 damage	nmod
14	attributed	attribute	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 garments	acl
15	to	to	ADP	_	16 moths	case
16	moths	moth	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 attributed	obl
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the damage	of the following statements; to woollen garments; accurately property	tree rules
3	attribute	participle	woollen garments not said here	to moths	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

It is caused by butterflies mistaken for moths

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 caused	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 caused	aux:pass
3	caused	cause	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 butterflies	case
5	butterflies	butterfly	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 caused	obl
6	mistaken	mistake	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 butterflies	acl
7	for	for	ADP	_	8 moths	case
8	moths	moth	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 mistaken	obl:agent

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cause	present · passive	butterflies	It					vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition subject=Patient
2	mistake	participle		butterflies not said here					tree rules

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

It is caused solely by the larvae of a small number of species

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 caused	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 caused	aux:pass
3	caused	cause	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	solely	solely	ADV	_	3 caused	advmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 larvae	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 larvae	det
7	larvae	larva	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 caused	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	11 number	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 number	det
10	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 number	amod
11	number	number	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 larvae	nmod
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 species	case
13	species	species	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 number	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cause	present · passive	the larvae of a small number of species	It				solely property	vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition subject=Patient

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

It is caused by moths attracted to illuminated rooms in the evening

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 caused	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 caused	aux:pass
3	caused	cause	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 moths	case
5	moths	moth	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 caused	obl:agent
6	attracted	attract	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 moths	acl
7	to	to	ADP	_	9 rooms	case
8	illuminated	illuminate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 rooms	amod
9	rooms	room	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 attracted	obl
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 evening	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 evening	det
12	evening	evening	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 caused	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	cause	present · passive	moths	It	evening		vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition subject=Patient
2	attract	participle		moths not said here		to illuminated rooms result	vn lure-59.3 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent to room=Result
3	illuminate	participle					vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 4

It is caused by the adults of all species of moth

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 caused	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 caused	aux:pass
3	caused	cause	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 adults	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 adults	det
6	adults	adult	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 caused	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 species	case
8	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	9 species	det
9	species	species	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 adults	nmod
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 moth	case
11	moth	moth	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 species	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cause	present · passive	the adults of all species of moth	It					vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition subject=Patient

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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