Exam question 4 · The microscopic world: cells, the building blocks of life

Ascertain the approximate number of cells of which an adult human body is composed, according to current scientific estimates.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, compose, accord · To what, where: approximate number, adult human body

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 number	det
3	approximate	approximate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 number	amod
4	number	number	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 cells	case
6	cells	cell	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 number	nmod
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 which	case
8	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	14 composed	obl
9	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 body	det
10	adult	adult	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 body	amod
11	human	human	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 body	amod
12	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 composed	nsubj:pass
13	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 composed	aux:pass
14	composed	compose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 cells	acl:relcl
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	20 estimates	punct
16	according	accord	VERB	ExtPos=ADP Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	20 estimates	case
17	to	to	ADP	_	16 according	fixed
18	current	current	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 estimates	amod
19	scientific	scientific	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 estimates	amod
20	estimates	estimate	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 composed	parataxis
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the approximate number of cells		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent number=Topic
2	compose	present · passive		a adult human body	of cells	vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Result
3	accord	gerund				vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: 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 · ← Mova's choice

Approximately one million

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Approximately	approximately	ADV	_	3 million	advmod
2	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	3 million	compound
3	million	million	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	root	root

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Between thirty and thirty-seven trillion

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Between	between	ADP	_	2 thirty	case
2	thirty	thirty	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	root	root
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 trillion	cc
4	thirty	thirty	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	7 trillion	compound
5	-	-	PUNCT	_	6 seven	punct
6	seven	seven	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 thirty	conj
7	trillion	trillion	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	2 thirty	conj

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 3

Precisely one hundred thousand, as counted by microscope

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Precisely	precisely	ADV	_	4 thousand	advmod
2	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	3 hundred	compound
3	hundred	hundred	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 thousand	compound
4	thousand	thousand	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 counted	punct
6	as	as	SCONJ	_	7 counted	mark
7	counted	count	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 thousand	acl
8	by	by	ADP	_	9 microscope	case
9	microscope	microscope	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 counted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	count	participle						by microscope	vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus

Option 4

Approximately two hundred

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Approximately	approximately	ADV	_	3 hundred	advmod
2	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	3 hundred	compound
3	hundred	hundred	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	root	root

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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/256-the-microscopic-world-cells-the-building-blocks-of-life/e4/