Exam question 4 · Feathered dinosaurs: from Archaeopteryx to the chicken on…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the earliest function of feathers?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: earliest function

This is exam question 4 of lesson 269 «Feathered dinosaurs: from Archaeopteryx to the chicken on your plate» 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 function	det
10	earliest	early	ADJ	Degree=Sup	11 function	amod
11	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 feathers	case
13	feathers	feather	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 function	nmod
14	?	?	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 earliest function of feathers				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 · ← Mova's choice

They are understood to have served first and solely for flight

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 understood	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 understood	aux:pass
3	understood	understand	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	6 served	mark
5	have	have	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 served	aux
6	served	serve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	3 understood	xcomp
7	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	6 served	advmod
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 solely	cc
9	solely	solely	ADV	_	7 first	conj
10	for	for	ADP	_	11 flight	case
11	flight	flight	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 served	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	understand	present · passive		They					tree rules
2	serve	to-infinitive · perfect						for flight; first property	vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent for flight=Recipient

Option 2

They are understood to have served for digging

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 understood	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 understood	aux:pass
3	understood	understand	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	6 served	mark
5	have	have	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 served	aux
6	served	serve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	3 understood	xcomp
7	for	for	ADP	_	8 digging	case
8	digging	digging	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 served	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	understand	present · passive		They					tree rules
2	serve	to-infinitive · perfect						for digging	vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent for digging=Recipient

Option 3

They are understood to have served for swimming

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 understood	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 understood	aux:pass
3	understood	understand	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	6 served	mark
5	have	have	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 served	aux
6	served	serve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	3 understood	xcomp
7	for	for	ADP	_	8 swimming	case
8	swimming	swimming	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 served	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	understand	present · passive		They					tree rules
2	serve	to-infinitive · perfect						for swimming	vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent for swimming=Recipient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

They are understood to have served first for insulation, and only subsequently for display and flight

The tree, 16 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 understood	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 understood	aux:pass
3	understood	understand	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	6 served	mark
5	have	have	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 served	aux
6	served	serve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	3 understood	xcomp
7	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	6 served	advmod
8	for	for	ADP	_	9 insulation	case
9	insulation	insulation	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 served	obl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 display	punct
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 display	cc
12	only	only	ADV	_	13 subsequently	advmod
13	subsequently	subsequently	ADV	_	15 display	advmod
14	for	for	ADP	_	15 display	case
15	display	display	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 understood	parataxis
16	and	and	CCONJ	_	17 flight	cc
17	flight	flight	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 display	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	understand	present · passive		They					tree rules
2	serve	to-infinitive · perfect						for insulation; first property	vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent for insulation=Recipient

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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