Exam question 2 · Plants deeper: do trees talk? Fungi, warning smells and gi…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the present state of scientific knowledge concerning the transfer of sugar between trees via fungi?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: scientific knowledge · What happens: follow, characteris, concern, transfer · To what, where: present state, transfer, sugar

This is exam question 2 of lesson 252 «Plants deeper: do trees talk? Fungi, warning smells and giant clones» 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 state	det
10	present	present	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 state	amod
11	state	state	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 knowledge	case
13	scientific	scientific	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 knowledge	amod
14	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 state	nmod
15	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	14 knowledge	acl
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 transfer	det
17	transfer	transfer	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 concerning	obj
18	of	of	ADP	_	19 sugar	case
19	sugar	sugar	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 transfer	nmod
20	between	between	ADP	_	21 trees	case
21	trees	tree	NOUN	Number=Plur	19 sugar	nmod
22	via	via	ADP	_	23 fungi	case
23	fungi	fungus	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 concerning	obl
24	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the present state of scientific knowledge	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	concern	gerund	scientific knowledge not said here	the transfer of sugar between trees	via fungi	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus transfer=Experiencer
4	transfer			sugar between trees		nom transfer «act 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 · ← Mova's choice

It has been conclusively proven that all trees share equally with their neighbours

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	5 proven	nsubj:pass
2	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 proven	aux
3	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	5 proven	aux:pass
4	conclusively	conclusively	ADV	_	5 proven	advmod
5	proven	prove	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	that	that	SCONJ	_	9 share	mark
7	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	8 trees	det
8	trees	tree	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 share	nsubj
9	share	share	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 proven	ccomp
10	equally	equally	ADV	_	9 share	advmod
11	with	with	ADP	_	13 neighbours	case
12	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 neighbours	nmod:poss
13	neighbours	neighbour	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 share	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prove	present · perfect · passive		It				conclusively property	vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Attribute clause=Theme
2	share	present	all trees					with trees's neighbours; equally property	tree rules

Option 2

It has been conclusively disproven in all forests

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	5 disproven	nsubj
2	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 disproven	aux
3	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	5 disproven	cop
4	conclusively	conclusively	ADV	_	5 disproven	advmod
5	disproven	disproven	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 forests	case
7	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	8 forests	det
8	forests	forest	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 disproven	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present · perfect	It			all forests		conclusively, disproven property	tree rules

Option 3

It has never been the subject of investigation

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	6 subject	nsubj
2	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 subject	aux
3	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	6 subject	advmod
4	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	6 subject	cop
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 subject	det
6	subject	subject	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 investigation	case
8	investigation	investigation	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 subject	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not is a	present · perfect	It	the subject				of investigation	tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Some transfer is observed, but its extent and importance remain under debate

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Some	some	DET	PronType=Ind	2 transfer	det
2	transfer	transfer	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 observed	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 observed	aux:pass
4	observed	observe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 remain	punct
6	but	but	CCONJ	_	11 remain	cc
7	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 extent	nmod:poss
8	extent	extent	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 remain	nsubj
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 importance	cc
10	importance	importance	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 extent	conj
11	remain	remain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 observed	conj
12	under	under	ADP	_	13 debate	case
13	debate	debate	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 remain	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	observe	present · passive		some transfer		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic
2	remain	present	transfer's extent and importance		debate	vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme under debate=Location
3	extend		transfer			nom extent «state transitive»: poss=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/252-plants-deeper-do-trees-talk-fungi-warning-smells-and-giant-clones/e2/