Exam question 1 · The microscopic world: viruses and vaccines

Identify the principal reason for which the status of viruses as living organisms remains a matter of scientific dispute.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, status, scientific dispute · What happens: identify, remain, matter · To what, where: principal reason, matter

This is exam question 1 of lesson 258 «The microscopic world: viruses and vaccines» 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 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	14 remains	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 status	det
8	status	status	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 remains	nsubj
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 viruses	case
10	viruses	virus	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 status	nmod
11	as	as	ADP	_	13 organisms	case
12	living	living	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 organisms	amod
13	organisms	organism	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 viruses	nmod
14	remains	remain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 matter	det
16	matter	matter	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 remains	obj
17	of	of	ADP	_	19 dispute	case
18	scientific	scientific	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 dispute	amod
19	dispute	dispute	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 matter	nmod
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	remain	present	the status of viruses as living organisms	a matter of scientific dispute	for the principal reason	vn seem-109-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme matter=Attribute
3	matter		scientific dispute			nom matter «cognition intransitive»: of=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

They are composed entirely of mineral matter, as crystals of salt are

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 composed	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 composed	aux:pass
3	composed	compose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	3 composed	advmod
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 mineral	case
6	mineral	mineral	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 matter	obl
7	matter	matter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 composed	parataxis
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 crystals	punct
9	as	as	ADP	_	10 crystals	case
10	crystals	crystal	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 matter	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 salt	case
12	salt	salt	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 crystals	nmod
13	are	be	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 composed	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	compose	present · passive	They	entirely property	vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Result
2	matter	present		of mineral; as crystals of salt	vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus
3	be	present			vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

They are incapable of growth or reproduction save within a living cell

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 incapable	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 incapable	cop
3	incapable	incapable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	of	of	SCONJ	_	8 save	mark
5	growth	growth	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 save	nsubj
6	or	or	CCONJ	_	7 reproduction	cc
7	reproduction	reproduction	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 growth	conj
8	save	save	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 incapable	advcl
9	within	within	ADP	_	12 cell	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 cell	det
11	living	living	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 cell	compound
12	cell	cell	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 save	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	They					incapable property	tree rules
2	save	present	growth or reproduction					within a living cell	vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 3

They are larger than any bacterium

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 larger	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 larger	cop
3	larger	large	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	root	root
4	than	than	ADP	_	6 bacterium	case
5	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	6 bacterium	det
6	bacterium	bacterium	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 larger	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	They					than any bacterium; large property	tree rules

Option 4

They persist for no longer than one second

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 persist	nsubj
2	persist	persist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	for	for	ADP	_	5 longer	case
4	no	no	ADV	_	5 longer	advmod
5	longer	long	ADV	Degree=Cmp	2 persist	advmod
6	than	than	ADP	_	8 second	case
7	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	8 second	nummod
8	second	second	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 longer	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	persist	present	They					long property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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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