Exam question 3 · The microscopic world: cells, the building blocks of life

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the manner in which an organism replaces cells lost through injury?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: organism · What happens: follow, characteris, replace, lose · To what, where: manner, cells, injury

This is exam question 3 of lesson 256 «The microscopic world: cells, the building blocks of life» 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	10 manner	det
10	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	in	in	ADP	_	12 which	case
12	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	15 replaces	obl
13	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 organism	det
14	organism	organism	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 replaces	nsubj
15	replaces	replace	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 manner	acl:relcl
16	cells	cell	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 replaces	obj
17	lost	lose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	16 cells	acl
18	through	through	ADP	_	19 injury	case
19	injury	injury	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 lost	obl
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund					vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the manner		of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	replace	present	a organism	cells	the manner		vn substitute-13.6.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme cell=Co-Theme
4	lose	participle		cells not said here	injury		vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

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

Cells are imported from the blood in finished form

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Cells	cell	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 imported	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 imported	aux:pass
3	imported	import	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 blood	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 blood	det
6	blood	blood	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 imported	obl
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 form	case
8	finished	finished	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 form	amod
9	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 imported	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	import	present · passive		Cells		the blood		in finished form	vn send-11.1 «NP V NP PP.initial_location»: subject=Theme from blood=Initial_Location

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

New cells are formed afresh from the material of the scab as it hardens

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	New	new	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 cells	amod
2	cells	cell	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 formed	nsubj:pass
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 formed	aux:pass
4	formed	form	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	afresh	afresh	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 formed	xcomp
6	from	from	ADP	_	8 material	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 material	det
8	material	material	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 formed	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 scab	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 scab	det
11	scab	scab	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 material	nmod
12	as	as	SCONJ	_	14 hardens	mark
13	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 hardens	nsubj
14	hardens	harden	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 formed	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	form	present · passive		New cells		the material of the scab		afresh property	vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: subject=Result from material=Material
2	harden	present	scab						vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Existing cells divide into two, thereby generating new cells

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Existing	exist	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 cells	amod
2	cells	cell	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 divide	nsubj
3	divide	divide	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	into	into	ADP	_	5 two	case
5	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	3 divide	obl
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 generating	punct
7	thereby	thereby	ADV	_	8 generating	advmod
8	generating	generate	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 divide	advcl
9	new	new	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 cells	amod
10	cells	cell	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 generating	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	exist	gerund					vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	divide	present	Existing cells		two		vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
3	generate	gerund	Existing cells not said here	new cells		thereby property	vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cell=Patient

Option 4

Lost cells are never replaced

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Lost	lose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 cells	amod
2	cells	cell	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 replaced	nsubj:pass
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 replaced	aux:pass
4	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	5 replaced	advmod
5	replaced	replace	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lose	participle							vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	not replace	present · passive		Lost cells					vn substitute-13.6.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Co-Theme

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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