Exam question 4 · The long-necked giants: Diplodocus, Brachiosaurus, Argenti…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the phenomenon termed convergence?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: phenomenon · What happens: follow, characteris, term · To what, where: convergence

This is exam question 4 of lesson 266 «The long-necked giants: Diplodocus, Brachiosaurus, Argentinosaurus and Brontosaurus» 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	10 phenomenon	det
10	phenomenon	phenomenon	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 termed	nsubj
11	termed	term	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 characterises	ccomp
12	convergence	convergence	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 termed	obj
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present			of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	term	past	the phenomenon	convergence		vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent convergence=Theme

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 descent of all organisms of one kind from a single parent within one generation

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 descent	det
2	descent	descent	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 organisms	case
4	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	5 organisms	det
5	organisms	organism	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 descent	nmod
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 kind	case
7	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	8 kind	nummod
8	kind	kind	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 organisms	nmod
9	from	from	ADP	_	12 parent	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 parent	det
11	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 parent	amod
12	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 kind	nmod
13	within	within	ADP	_	15 generation	case
14	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	15 generation	nummod
15	generation	generation	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 descent	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	descend		all organisms of one kind from a single parent				within one generation		nom descent «event intransitive»: of=agent within=obl

Option 2

The resemblance of offspring to their parents in appearance and habit

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 resemblance	det
2	resemblance	resemblance	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 offspring	case
4	offspring	offspring	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 resemblance	nmod
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 parents	case
6	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 parents	nmod:poss
7	parents	parent	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 resemblance	nmod
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 appearance	case
9	appearance	appearance	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 parents	nmod
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 habit	cc
11	habit	habit	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 appearance	conj

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

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The independent arrival of unrelated organisms at similar solutions to similar problems

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 arrival	det
2	independent	independent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 arrival	amod
3	arrival	arrival	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 organisms	case
5	unrelated	unrelated	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 organisms	amod
6	organisms	organism	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 arrival	nmod
7	at	at	ADP	_	9 solutions	case
8	similar	similar	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 solutions	amod
9	solutions	solution	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 organisms	nmod
10	to	to	ADP	_	12 problems	case
11	similar	similar	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 problems	amod
12	problems	problem	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 solutions	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	arrive		unrelated organisms at similar solutions to similar problems						nom arrival «act intransitive»: of=agent

Option 4

The seasonal movement of animals over great distances in search of food

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 movement	det
2	seasonal	seasonal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 movement	amod
3	movement	movement	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 animals	case
5	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 movement	nmod
6	over	over	ADV	_	7 great	advmod
7	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 distances	amod
8	distances	distance	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 movement	nmod
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 search	case
10	search	search	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 movement	nmod
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 food	case
12	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 search	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	move			animals		search of food			nom movement «act transitive»: of=patient in=place
2	search			food					nom search «act transitive»: of=patient

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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