Exam question 1 · How scientists find out: naturalists, Darwin, the microsco…

Identify the principal characteristic of a fair test as conducted in a scientific investigation.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, conduct · To what, where: principal characteristic, scientific investigation

This is exam question 1 of lesson 264 «How scientists find out: naturalists, Darwin, the microscope and wildlife filming» 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 characteristic	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 characteristic	amod
4	characteristic	characteristic	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 test	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 test	det
7	fair	fair	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 test	amod
8	test	test	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 characteristic	nmod
9	as	as	SCONJ	_	10 conducted	mark
10	conducted	conduct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Identify	advcl
11	in	in	ADP	_	14 investigation	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 investigation	det
13	scientific	scientific	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 investigation	amod
14	investigation	investigation	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 conducted	obl
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal characteristic of a fair test					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent characteristic=Theme
2	conduct	participle	you not said here			a scientific investigation			vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in investigation=Destination

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 test is conducted once only and never repeated

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 test	det
2	test	test	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 conducted	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 conducted	aux:pass
4	conducted	conduct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	4 conducted	advmod
6	only	only	ADV	_	4 conducted	advmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 repeated	cc
8	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	9 repeated	advmod
9	repeated	repeat	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 conducted	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	conduct	present · passive		the test				once property	vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	not repeat	participle							vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

A single factor is varied whilst all other conditions are maintained constant

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 factor	det
2	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 factor	amod
3	factor	factor	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 varied	nsubj
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 varied	cop
5	varied	varied	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	whilst	whilst	SCONJ	_	11 maintained	mark
7	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	9 conditions	det
8	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 conditions	amod
9	conditions	condition	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 maintained	nsubj:pass
10	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 maintained	aux:pass
11	maintained	maintain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 varied	advcl
12	constant	constant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 maintained	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	a single factor					varied property	tree rules
2	maintain	present · passive		all other conditions				constant property	vn declare-29.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Theme

Option 3

All factors are varied simultaneously for the sake of economy and speed of work

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	All	all	DET	PronType=Tot	2 factors	det
2	factors	factor	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 varied	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 varied	cop
4	varied	varied	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	simultaneously	simultaneously	ADV	_	4 varied	advmod
6	for	for	ADP	_	8 sake	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 sake	det
8	sake	sake	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 varied	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 economy	case
10	economy	economy	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 sake	nmod
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 speed	cc
12	speed	speed	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 sake	conj
13	of	of	ADP	_	14 work	case
14	work	work	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 speed	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	all factors					for the sake of economy and speed of work; simultaneously, varied property	tree rules

Option 4

The result is decided before the commencement of the test

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 result	det
2	result	result	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 decided	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 decided	aux:pass
4	decided	decide	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	before	before	ADP	_	7 commencement	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 commencement	det
7	commencement	commencement	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 decided	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 test	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 test	det
10	test	test	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 commencement	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	decide	present · passive		the result			before the commencement of the test		vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V S»: subject=Topic

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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