Exam question 1 · Plants deeper: leaves and sunlight, how a tree is made of…

Identify the principal source of the carbon which constitutes the greater part of the dry mass of a tree.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, carbon · What happens: identify, constitute · To what, where: principal source, greater part

This is exam question 1 of lesson 251 «Plants deeper: leaves and sunlight, how a tree is made of air» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 source	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 source	amod
4	source	source	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 carbon	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 carbon	det
7	carbon	carbon	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 source	nmod
8	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 constitutes	nsubj
9	constitutes	constitute	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 carbon	acl:relcl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 part	det
11	greater	great	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	12 part	amod
12	part	part	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 constitutes	obj
13	of	of	ADP	_	16 mass	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 mass	det
15	dry	dry	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 mass	amod
16	mass	mass	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 part	nmod
17	of	of	ADP	_	19 tree	case
18	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	19 tree	det
19	tree	tree	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 mass	nmod
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal source of the carbon					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent source=Theme
2	constitute	present	the carbon	the greater part of the dry mass of a tree					vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme part=Pivot

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

Organic matter derived from fallen leaves

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Organic	organic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 matter	amod
2	matter	matter	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 derived	nsubj
3	derived	derive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 leaves	case
5	fallen	fall	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 leaves	amod
6	leaves	leaf	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 derived	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	derive	past	Organic matter			fallen leaves			vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: agent=Agent from leaf=Material
2	fall	participle							vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

Mineral matter extracted from the soil by the roots

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Mineral	mineral	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 extracted	nsubj:pass
2	matter	matter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 extracted	aux
3	extracted	extract	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 soil	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 soil	det
6	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 extracted	obl
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 roots	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 roots	det
9	roots	root	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 extracted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	extract	present · passive	the roots	Mineral		the soil			vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme from soil=Initial_Location

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Carbon dioxide absorbed from the atmosphere

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Carbon	carbon	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 dioxide	compound
2	dioxide	dioxide	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	absorbed	absorb	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 dioxide	acl
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 atmosphere	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 atmosphere	det
6	atmosphere	atmosphere	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 absorbed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	absorb	participle		Carbon dioxide not said here		the atmosphere			vn learn-14-2 «NP V PP.source»: agent=Agent from atmosphere=Source

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

Water drawn up through the roots

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	drawn	draw	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Water	acl
3	up	up	ADP	_	2 drawn	compound:prt
4	through	through	ADP	_	6 roots	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 roots	det
6	roots	root	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 drawn	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	draw up	participle		Water not said here		the roots			vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/251-plants-deeper-leaves-and-sunlight-how-a-tree-is-made-of-air/e1/