Exam question 2 · Plants deeper: the oldest, tallest and strangest trees

Identify the principal method by which the age of a felled tree may be determined.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, principal method · What happens: identify, fell, determine · To what, where: principal method, age

This is exam question 2 of lesson 253 «Plants deeper: the oldest, tallest and strangest trees» 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 method	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 method	amod
4	method	method	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	15 determined	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 age	det
8	age	age	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 determined	nsubj:pass
9	of	of	ADP	_	12 tree	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 tree	det
11	felled	fell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 tree	amod
12	tree	tree	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 age	nmod
13	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	15 determined	aux
14	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	15 determined	aux:pass
15	determined	determine	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 method	acl:relcl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal method	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent method=Theme
2	fell	participle			tree rules
3	determine	may · passive	the principal method	the age of a felled tree	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Topic

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 · ✓ the right answer

The enumeration of the annual rings within its trunk

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 enumeration	det
2	enumeration	enumeration	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 rings	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 rings	det
5	annual	annual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 rings	amod
6	rings	ring	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 enumeration	nmod
7	within	within	ADP	_	9 trunk	case
8	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 trunk	nmod:poss
9	trunk	trunk	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 rings	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	enumerate			the annual rings within enumeration's trunk					nom enumeration «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

The examination of the colour of its bark

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 examination	det
2	examination	examination	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 colour	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 colour	det
5	colour	colour	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 examination	nmod
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 bark	case
7	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 bark	nmod:poss
8	bark	bark	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 colour	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	examine			the colour of colour's bark					nom examination «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

The measurement of its total weight with great precision

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 measurement	det
2	measurement	measurement	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 weight	case
4	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 weight	nmod:poss
5	total	total	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 weight	amod
6	weight	weight	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 measurement	nmod
7	with	with	ADP	_	9 precision	case
8	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 precision	amod
9	precision	precision	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 weight	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	measure			measurement's total weight with great precision					nom measurement «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

The enumeration of its branches

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 enumeration	det
2	enumeration	enumeration	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 branches	case
4	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 branches	nmod:poss
5	branches	branch	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 enumeration	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	enumerate			enumeration's branches					nom enumeration «communication transitive»: of=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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