Exam question 4 · Tyrannosaurus rex: what we really know, from teeth and dun…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the chronological relationship between Stegosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: chronological relationship

This is exam question 4 of lesson 265 «Tyrannosaurus rex: what we really know, from teeth and dung to tiny arms» 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	11 relationship	det
10	chronological	chronological	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 relationship	amod
11	relationship	relationship	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	between	between	ADP	_	13 Stegosaurus	case
13	Stegosaurus	Stegosaurus	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 relationship	nmod
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 rex	cc
15	Tyrannosaurus	Tyrannosaurus	PROPN	Number=Sing	16 rex	compound
16	rex	rex	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 relationship	conj
17	?	?	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		the chronological relationship and Tyrannosaurus rex				of the following statements; between Stegosaurus; 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

They were contemporaries inhabiting the same region

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 contemporaries	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 contemporaries	cop
3	contemporaries	contemporary	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	inhabiting	inhabit	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 contemporaries	acl
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 region	det
6	same	same	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 region	amod
7	region	region	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 inhabiting	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	They	contemporaries					tree rules
2	inhabit	gerund	contemporaries not said here	the same region					tree rules

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

They were separated by no more than a few centuries

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 separated	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 separated	aux:pass
3	separated	separate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 more	case
5	no	no	ADV	_	6 more	advmod
6	more	more	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	3 separated	obl
7	than	than	ADP	_	10 centuries	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 centuries	det
9	few	few	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 centuries	amod
10	centuries	century	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 separated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	separate	past · passive		They			century	by more	vn separate-23.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

They were separated by a greater span of time than that separating Tyrannosaurus rex from the present day

The tree, 18 words

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 separated	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 separated	aux:pass
3	separated	separate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	7 span	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 span	det
6	greater	great	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	7 span	amod
7	span	span	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 separated	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 time	case
9	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 span	nmod
10	than	than	ADP	_	14 rex	case
11	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	14 rex	nsubj
12	separating	separate	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	14 rex	amod
13	Tyrannosaurus	Tyrannosaurus	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 rex	compound
14	rex	rex	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 separated	obl
15	from	from	ADP	_	18 day	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 day	det
17	present	present	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 day	amod
18	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 separated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	separate	past · passive	a greater span of time	They			day	than separating Tyrannosaurus rex	vn separate-23.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient
2	separate	gerund							vn separate-23.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient

Option 4

Stegosaurus succeeded Tyrannosaurus rex by some millions of years

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Stegosaurus	Stegosaurus	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 succeeded	nsubj
2	succeeded	succeed	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	Tyrannosaurus	Tyrannosaurus	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 rex	compound
4	rex	rex	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 succeeded	obj
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 millions	case
6	some	some	DET	PronType=Ind	7 millions	det
7	millions	million	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 succeeded	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 years	case
9	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 millions	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	succeed	past	Stegosaurus	Tyrannosaurus rex				by some millions of years	tree rules

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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