Exam question 3 · The microscopic world: bacteria, good and bad

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises bacteria in general?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: bacteria, general

This is exam question 3 of lesson 257 «The microscopic world: bacteria, good and bad» 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	bacteria	bacterium	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obj
10	in	in	ADP	_	11 general	case
11	general	general	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 characterises	obl
12	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		bacteria		general		of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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

Bacteria inhabit only unclean environments, such as drains and refuse

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Bacteria	bacterium	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 inhabit	nsubj
2	inhabit	inhabit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	only	only	ADV	_	5 environments	advmod
4	unclean	unclean	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 environments	amod
5	environments	environment	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 inhabit	obj
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 drains	punct
7	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	9 drains	case
8	as	as	ADP	_	7 such	fixed
9	drains	drain	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 environments	conj
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 refuse	cc
11	refuse	refuse	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 inhabit	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	inhabit	present	Bacteria	unclean environments and drains					tree rules
2	refuse	present	Bacteria not said here						vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The majority are harmless or beneficial, a small minority being the cause of disease

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 majority	det
2	majority	majority	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 harmless	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 harmless	cop
4	harmless	harmless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	or	or	CCONJ	_	6 beneficial	cc
6	beneficial	beneficial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 harmless	conj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 cause	punct
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 minority	det
9	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 minority	amod
10	minority	minority	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 cause	nsubj
11	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	13 cause	cop
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 cause	det
13	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 harmless	parataxis
14	of	of	ADP	_	15 disease	case
15	disease	disease	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 cause	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	present	the majority		harmless property	tree rules
2	be		the majority not said here			tree rules
3	is a	gerund	a small minority	the cause	of disease	tree rules

Option 3

All bacteria are invariably the cause of disease

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	All	all	DET	PronType=Tot	2 bacteria	det
2	bacteria	bacterium	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 cause	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 cause	cop
4	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	6 cause	advmod
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 cause	det
6	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 disease	case
8	disease	disease	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 cause	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	all bacteria	the cause				of disease; invariably property	tree rules

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

Bacteria are multicellular animals possessing eyes, mouths and minute limbs

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Bacteria	bacterium	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 animals	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 animals	cop
3	multicellular	multicellular	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 animals	amod
4	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
5	possessing	possess	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 animals	acl
6	eyes	eye	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 possessing	obj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 mouths	punct
8	mouths	mouth	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 eyes	conj
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 limbs	cc
10	minute	minute	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 limbs	compound
11	limbs	limb	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 eyes	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	Bacteria	multicellular animals					tree rules
2	possess	gerund	multicellular animals not said here	eyes and mouths and minute limbs					vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot eye=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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