Exam question 4 · Echolocation in the sea and in people: dolphins, whales, s…

Ascertain the principal reason for which sound is preferred to light for the detection of objects in the deep sea.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, prefer, detect · To what, where: principal reason, sound, deep sea, objects

This is exam question 4 of lesson 230 «Echolocation in the sea and in people: dolphins, whales, swiftlets and clicking humans» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 preferred	obl
7	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 preferred	nsubj:pass
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 preferred	aux:pass
9	preferred	prefer	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 reason	acl:relcl
10	to	to	ADP	_	11 light	case
11	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 preferred	obl
12	for	for	ADP	_	14 detection	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 detection	det
14	detection	detection	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 preferred	obl
15	of	of	ADP	_	16 objects	case
16	objects	object	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 detection	nmod
17	in	in	ADP	_	20 sea	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 sea	det
19	deep	deep	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 sea	amod
20	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 preferred	obl
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	prefer	present · passive		sound	the deep sea	for the principal reason; to light; for the detection of objects	vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus for which=Attribute
3	detect			objects			nom detection «cognition 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 · ✓ the right answer

Light is rapidly extinguished in water, whereas sound is propagated far and swiftly

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 extinguished	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 extinguished	cop
3	rapidly	rapidly	ADV	_	4 extinguished	advmod
4	extinguished	extinguished	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 water	case
6	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 extinguished	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 propagated	punct
8	whereas	whereas	SCONJ	_	11 propagated	mark
9	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 propagated	nsubj:pass
10	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 propagated	aux:pass
11	propagated	propagate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 extinguished	conj
12	far	far	ADV	Degree=Pos	11 propagated	advmod
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 swiftly	cc
14	swiftly	swiftly	ADV	_	12 far	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Light			water		extinguished, rapidly property	tree rules
2	propagate	present · passive		sound				far property	vn entity_specific_modes_being-47.2 «NP.location V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

Water amplifies light but absorbs sound, thereby rendering sound of little use at great depth

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 amplifies	nsubj
2	amplifies	amplify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 amplifies	obj
4	but	but	CCONJ	_	5 absorbs	cc
5	absorbs	absorb	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 amplifies	conj
6	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 absorbs	obj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 sound	punct
8	thereby	thereby	ADV	_	9 rendering	advmod
9	rendering	render	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 sound	amod
10	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 use	nsubj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 little	case
12	little	little	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 sound	nmod
13	use	use	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 absorbs	parataxis
14	at	at	ADP	_	16 depth	case
15	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 depth	amod
16	depth	depth	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 use	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	amplify	present	Water	light			vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent light=Patient
2	absorb	present	Water not said here	sound			vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Goal sound=Theme
3	render	gerund				thereby property	vn give-13.1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent
4	use	present	rendering sound of little		great depth		vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

Light travels more slowly in water than sound

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 travels	nsubj
2	travels	travel	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	4 slowly	advmod
4	slowly	slowly	ADV	_	2 travels	advmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 water	case
6	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 travels	obl
7	than	than	ADP	_	8 sound	case
8	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 travels	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	travel	present	Light			water		than sound; slowly property	vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in water=Trajectory

Option 4

Sound is visible to marine animals

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 visible	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 visible	cop
3	visible	visible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 animals	case
5	marine	marine	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 animals	amod
6	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 visible	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Sound					to marine animals; visible property	tree rules

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/230-echolocation-in-the-sea-and-in-people-dolphins-whales-swiftlets-and-clicking-humans/e4/