Exam question 4 · Plants deeper: carnivorous plants that count, slip and suck

Ascertain the mechanism by which a bladderwort captures its prey.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, bladderwort · What happens: ascertain, capture · To what, where: mechanism, prey

This is exam question 4 of lesson 254 «Plants deeper: carnivorous plants that count, slip and suck» 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	3 mechanism	det
3	mechanism	mechanism	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 captures	obl
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 bladderwort	det
7	bladderwort	bladderwort	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 captures	nsubj
8	captures	capture	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 mechanism	acl:relcl
9	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 prey	nmod:poss
10	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 captures	obj
11	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the mechanism					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mechanism=Topic
2	capture	present	a bladderwort	bladderwort's prey				by the mechanism	vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent prey=Theme

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 drowning of insects in a lidded pitcher

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 drowning	det
2	drowning	drowning	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 insects	case
4	insects	insect	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 drowning	nmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	8 pitcher	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 pitcher	det
7	lidded	lid	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 pitcher	amod
8	pitcher	pitcher	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 insects	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lid	participle							tree rules

Option 2

The snapping closure of a hinged leaf upon contact

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 closure	det
2	snapping	snap	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 closure	amod
3	closure	closure	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 leaf	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 leaf	det
6	hinged	hinge	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 leaf	amod
7	leaf	leaf	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 closure	nmod
8	upon	upon	ADP	_	9 contact	case
9	contact	contact	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 leaf	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	roles by
1	snap	gerund		vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	hinge	participle		vn tape-22.4 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
3	close		a hinged leaf upon contact	nom closure «act intransitive»: of=agent

Option 3

The adhesion of flies to sticky tentacles above the surface of the water

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 adhesion	det
2	adhesion	adhesion	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 tentacles	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 flies	case
4	flies	fly	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 adhesion	nmod
5	to	to	PART	_	6 sticky	mark
6	sticky	sticky	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 tentacles	amod
7	tentacles	tentacle	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
8	above	above	ADP	_	10 surface	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 surface	det
10	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 tentacles	nmod
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 water	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 water	det
13	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 surface	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	adhere		flies						nom adhesion «state intransitive»: of=agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The rapid suction of water fleas into a low-pressure underwater bladder

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 suction	det
2	rapid	rapid	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 suction	amod
3	suction	suction	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 fleas	case
5	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 fleas	compound
6	fleas	flea	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 suction	nmod
7	into	into	ADP	_	13 bladder	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 bladder	det
9	low	low	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 pressure	amod
10	-	-	PUNCT	_	9 low	punct
11	pressure	pressure	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 underwater	compound
12	underwater	underwater	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 bladder	compound
13	bladder	bladder	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 suction	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	suction		water fleas			a underwater bladder			nom suction «phenomenon intransitive»: of=agent into=place

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/254-plants-deeper-carnivorous-plants-that-count-slip-and-suck/e4/