Exam question 1 · Plants deeper: roots and how they drink, hold and push

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the principal functions of a root?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: principal functions

This is exam question 1 of lesson 250 «Plants deeper: roots and how they drink, hold and push» 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	11 functions	det
10	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 functions	amod
11	functions	function	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 root	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 root	det
14	root	root	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 functions	nmod
15	?	?	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 principal functions of a root				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

It serves solely to store food for the following year

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	2 serves	nsubj
2	serves	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	solely	solely	ADV	_	2 serves	advmod
4	to	to	PART	_	5 store	mark
5	store	store	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 serves	advcl
6	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 store	obj
7	for	for	ADP	_	10 year	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 year	det
9	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 year	amod
10	year	year	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 store	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	serve	present	It			solely property	vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent
2	store	to-infinitive		food	year		vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Theme
3	follow	gerund					vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

It produces the seeds by which the plant is propagated

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	2 produces	nsubj
2	produces	produce	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 seeds	det
4	seeds	seed	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 produces	obj
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 propagated	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 plant	det
8	plant	plant	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 propagated	nsubj:pass
9	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 propagated	aux:pass
10	propagated	propagate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 produces	parataxis

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	produce	present	It	the seeds					vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent seed=Result
2	propagate	present · passive		the plant					vn entity_specific_modes_being-47.2 «NP.location V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 3

It manufactures food from sunlight in the manner of a leaf

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	2 manufactures	nsubj
2	manufactures	manufacture	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 manufactures	obj
4	from	from	ADP	_	5 sunlight	case
5	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 manufactures	obl
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 manner	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 manner	det
8	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 manufactures	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 leaf	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 leaf	det
11	leaf	leaf	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 manner	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	manufacture	present	It	food		sunlight		in the manner of a leaf	vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: agent=Agent food=Result from sunlight=Material

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It anchors the plant and absorbs water together with dissolved minerals

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	2 anchors	nsubj
2	anchors	anchor	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 plant	det
4	plant	plant	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 anchors	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 absorbs	cc
6	absorbs	absorb	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 anchors	conj
7	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 absorbs	obj
8	together	together	ADV	_	6 absorbs	advmod
9	with	with	ADP	_	11 minerals	case
10	dissolved	dissolve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 minerals	amod
11	minerals	mineral	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 absorbs	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	anchor	present	It	the plant		vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent plant=Patient
2	absorb	present		water	with dissolved minerals; together property	vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Goal water=Theme
3	dissolve	participle				vn break-45.1 «NP.patient V»: agent=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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